


The Hobbit Dragon Bilbo

by Moonlightsplash



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 08:46:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12837570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlightsplash/pseuds/Moonlightsplash
Summary: Smaug's magic changed Bilbo more than he knew.  He'd find out on his way home from Erebor...





	The Hobbit Dragon Bilbo

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - All rights to The Hobbit belong to the original author, Tolkien.

Title: The Hobbit Dragon Bilbo

Summary: Smaug’s magic changed Bilbo more than he knew. He’d find out on his way home from Erebor…  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the The Hobbit, either books or movies. All Rights belong to the original author, Tolkien.

 

Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of the Shire and currently the banished ex-burglar of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield, fell to his knees in the snow. His hand was pressed over his side, blood still gushing over his clutching fingers. He looked around at the scattered orc bodies lying still in the snow and smiled grimly.

They might have killed him, but at least he took them down first. They had underestimated this hobbit! His vision darkening, Bilbo finally slumped down, falling into the snow next to the dead orcs, blood pooling around him. Within moments, all was still as snow started to accumulate on the rapidly cooling bodies.

 

When Bilbo finally woke next, it was not to find himself in Yavanna’s Gardens as he thought. Instead, as he lifted his head, he found himself staring at a straight, smooth expanse of white. Snow… Still struggling to figure out what was happening; Bilbo turned his head to take in his surroundings.

“Unbelievable…” He finally whispered. Before him, he was presented with the narrow pass he had died in. Or at least, he had thought he had died in. He poked his side carefully. Only to freeze in place at what he was seeing. Because that was not the pale, smooth hobbit skin he was used to seeing. Before his very eyes were shining golden scales. They glittered in the bright white expanse like some of the jewels he had seen in Erebor.

“Sc-Sc-SCALES?!” Bilbo shrieked and jumped forward. All his brain was saying was ‘dragon, dragon, dragon’, over and over. Smaug had carved himself into his memory permanently. Flailing and sliding, he made it about 20 feet farther forward before he had to stop. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong…

He looked behind him, inspecting the trail he had left. That was no hobbit trail… Swallowing, Bilbo slowly lifted his head and turned to slowly take in his own body. Instead of his middle aged, rather battered hobbit body, he was met with shining golden scales, wings and a tail. A tail with spikes on the end of it.

Still struggling to remain calm, Bilbo kept up his inspection, finding himself standing on four legs instead of just two. Starting to shake, Bilbo’s vision started to darken at the edges as his fear spiked hard. There was no way he could be a dragon! No way!

“I am a HOBBIT!” He shrieked into the cold air of the mountain pass. That was apparently all it took for the magic to activate and Bilbo found himself surrounded in a golden fog for a moment. When it cleared, he found that he was lying in the snow, and once more a hobbit. A very naked hobbit, who was promptly shivering in the bitter wind.

All of his wits were scattered like seeds in the wind as Bilbo staggered back to where he woke up. His pack should be here somewhere. He kicked and dug his way through the snow as his fingers were already numb from the biting wind. He could have cried when his hand closed around the strap of his pack. He pulled it free from the snow bank and ripped it open. 

The clothes he had left might be ragged, but they were clothes and he put on every single garment he had. His hands wrapped in rags and his head in an old shirt, Bilbo slowly shuffled his way across the remaining section of the pass. He had almost made it across the Misty Mountains when the orcs had attacked. It shouldn’t be but a half days walk to get to the brush and scrub that marked the lower edges of the mountains. 

Once there, he could find wood for a fire and try his best to warm up once more. Rivendell would be about a week’s more walk and he planned to stop there and see if they still had his pony Myrtle. Hopefully, if he could just get through this, he’d be riding home to the Shire soon. 

He sniffled and wiped his nose. He had cried more in the last year than he had since his parents had died. Scrubbing his hand across his eyes, Bilbo vowed that then and there, he had no dwarf friends and he was finished with crying over them!

 

It was a long, cold week later when Bilbo once more walked into the beauty that was Rivendell. He made his way slowly across the bridge to the courtyard and found that an elf he recognized was waiting to greet him. Bilbo stopped and bowed deeply, well aware that he was a pitiful sight to behold.

He straightened back up and cleared his throat before speaking. “Hello, Lindir. Would it be possible for me to find out if my pony Myrtle made it back here?”

The elf picked his jaw up from the ground. He was stunned by the little hobbit before him, but not for the reason Bilbo was so embarrassed by. Bilbo Baggins the hobbit, had made it back and he was indeed changed by his trip, just as Lord Elrond had said.

“Welcome friend Bilbo. Your pony has indeed made it back, but it would be remiss of me to send you on without giving you shelter here first.”

Bilbo felt his face flush with embarrassment. “I’m afraid it was a hard trip back across the mountains.”

Lindir nodded. “Indeed. Come Master Baggins. I will see you settled in a room and see if we can get you something to wear.”

Bilbo followed him into the guest quarters of Rivendell. For the next few hours, he was in complete bliss as he was able to finally get clean once more. The hot water helped with his aching muscles and once he got out, he found that the elves had left him a hobbit sized outfit.

It was a smiling Bilbo who answered the door later to find Lindir waiting for him politely. “It’s time for dinner, Master Baggins. Would you care to accompany me?”

“I would. Thank you, Lindir. I appreciate it.” Bilbo walked silently next to him, unaware of Lindir’s admiring looks. For now, the hobbit’s hair gleamed like polished gold in the light and his eyes even seemed to have the same golden tint to them. It was striking and Lindir had never seen anything like it.

Bilbo found the dining room to be almost empty. There were only four others there and he knew none of them. Once dinner had started, he cleared his throat and waited until he had Lindir’s attention.

“Is Lord Elrond out of Rivendell at the moment, Lindir?”

“He is, Master Baggins. He’s due back by the end of next week though. Are you planning on staying that long? I know he would appreciate seeing you.” Lindir’s smile was openly friendly and Bilbo was a bit unsettled by it. The last trip through, he had an entire Company of rude dwarrow with him. Perhaps that was the difference? Anyway…

“Actually, I was planning on leaving tomorrow morning, Lindir. I’ve been away from home for too long now. I’m afraid it’s going to be quite a lot of trouble when I get back now. I couldn’t imagine waiting any later.”

“Trouble?”

Bilbo heaved a sigh, nodding. “Oh yes. Even though I left instructions for my property, anyone gone longer than a year can be declared dead and their property given to a relative. The greedy Sackville-Baggins have probably already done so. I’m expecting quite the fight when I return in order to get my belongings back.”

The poor Elf Steward looked astounded. “They can seize your property and get rid of your belongings if you’re gone for a year?! That’s outrageous!”

Bilbo shrugged and wiped his mouth. “It is. But, that’s hobbits for you. Stuck in the mud and way too concerned with respectability they are. I suppose it will all work out.”

Lindir leaned over and laid his hand on Bilbo’s, squeezing gently to the hobbit’s astonishment.

“I will be sure to tell Lord Elrond of this, Master Baggins. I am sure if you need someone to help, he would be glad to do so.”

“Umm… Of course. Thank you, Lindir, but I think that someone as important as Lord Elrond has better things to do than worry about the petty struggles of a hobbit.” 

“Do not say such things, Master Baggins. You are an elf-friend and as such, entitled to our help if you need it.”

Bilbo slid off his chair as he rose and bowed slightly to Lindir. “Truly are the Elves gracious in their hospitality. I’m afraid that I’m quite tired though, as it’s been a tough trip. If it’s alright with you, I would appreciate retiring now.”

Lindir rose as well. “Of course, of course Master Baggins. Please let me escort you to your room.” He walked slowly along with the exhausted hobbit, describing the architecture and some of the stories behind all of it as they walked. He couldn’t help but smile a bit smugly at the envious glances from the other elves he passed. It wasn’t often that they got to host such a striking person.

It was late the next morning before Bilbo managed to pull himself out of bed and get himself dressed and packed again. He slung his pack over his shoulder and pulled the door open, almost jumping in surprise to find Lindir waiting for him.

The elf smiled widely at him before nodding and gesturing. “I thought you might wish for a bit of breakfast before leaving.”

His hobbit ears perked up at the thought of more food. “That would be appreciated, Lindir.”

He made short work of his breakfast and soon they were out in the stables. There were two elves waiting on them. Both smiled and bowed at him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Master Baggins.” Their smiles were just that touch too friendly and Bilbo was flustered once more. 

“We’ve got your ponies ready to go with you. Right through here.”

They followed them out into the yard and Bilbo had to smile at Myrtle. She was already saddled up and waiting on him patiently. What he wasn’t expecting was the herd of ponies standing with her.

Before he could even ask, the elves started explaining that they had trained the ponies to follow Myrtle and some simple commands. They would follow Bilbo back to the Shire when he went. Despite his best efforts to talk them out of it, Bilbo found himself mounted up on Myrtle as she led the herd to the edge of Rivendell. He had an escort of two elven guards accompanying him on his way out.

When they reached the edge of the Shire, he tried to bow to the two elves and thank them, only to be told that they would be traveling with him to his home. Nothing Bilbo tried to say would sway them, so he finally stopped and turned Myrtle towards Bag End. It was time to go home.

 

Hamfast leaned over his fence as he watched Mister Bilbo make his way slowly up the Hill. Four years now, he’d been watching as the nicest hobbit he’d ever known came back changed from his adventure. Bilbo hadn’t stayed still a month before venturing off to Tuckborough. He’d come back with a bow and arrows.

It was soon after that when he started traveling. No one had ever heard of a hobbit traveling with 13 pack ponies! Much less ones that followed along all on their own. The Rangers had stopped by a few times to speak to him, but Hamfast wasn’t sure what they said. All he knew anymore was that this time, Mister Bilbo didn’t plan to come back. He’d been using a wagon and hauling all of the furnishings out of Bag End.

This was to be his last load of belongings and then Mister Bilbo would be gone. He’d told Hamfast that even though Bag End’s gardens wouldn’t need him, he’d made arrangements for his monthly wage to continue on without him. May had burst into tears and wound up sobbing on his shoulder.

It made him struggle with his own tears, but honestly, he couldn’t blame him. After all the kerfuffle when he came home from his adventure and then the nasty talk that went around when folks saw him… Well, he couldn’t blame Mister Bilbo for wanting to be someplace else.

He held up his hand to stop Bilbo and his wagon when they made it to the top of the Hill. At the happy smile Bilbo gave him, Hamfast had to sigh.

“Hello Mister Bilbo! Are you sure you won’t need a gardener wherever it is your going?”

Bilbo’s face fell but he had to shake his head. “I’m sorry Hamfast, but there are no children where I’m moving to. It wouldn’t be fair to your faunts to live there.”

Hamfast nodded sadly and came on out to see if he could help. Bilbo jumped down off the wagon and tied the ponies to the fence. 

“Hamfast, wait here a minute. I’ve got to go in and get the gift I’ve gotten for you and May.”

“Gift?” Hamfast started spluttering. “Oh, no Mister Bilbo. We don’t need any gift or anything. It’s been a right pleasure to know you it has. We’re going to miss you something fierce.”

Bilbo set the brake on the wagon and climbed down, hugging his friend. “You know how to get in touch with me if you need to, right? I’ll still be here if you need me, Hamfast.”

“I know, Mister Bilbo. Doesn’t help though when we got used to seeing you all the time. We just worry about who’ll be looking after you from now on we do.”

Bilbo let him go and pulled his jacket tighter around him. “Just wait right here Hamfast. I’ll go get your gift and bring it out to you.”

Bilbo trotted by him and pulled out another key, unlocking the door to his old study. Inside, the only thing left was the old chest he’d saved from the troll hoard. It was still filled with gold and he was going to give it to Hamfast.

Picking it up with a grunt, he walked back out the door with it. He carried it out to the wagon and set it on the floor of the seat area. He waved Hamfast over.

“This is for you and your family, Hamfast. I want you to keep all of it.” Bilbo made sure that no one could see and opened the lid. Poor Hamfast almost fell over before the sputtered refusals could start.

Bilbo just held up a hand. “No. Before I didn’t worry because if you needed something, I was here. I could help. I can still help, but it will take me a lot longer. This will make sure that you have everything you need when you need it.”

Hamfast was shaking his head and backing away. Bilbo just picked up the chest and headed towards Hamfast’s house. “Forget it. I’ll just leave it with May then. I’m not taking it back, Hamfast. This is for you.”

He walked into Hamfast’s smial to give the chest to May. Only after he had them settled did he return to his wagon and ponies. With a quick scratch on both Daisy and Sage, he went back into Bag End to get the last of his belongings.

If he hurried, he’d have enough time to get lunch at the Green Dragon before heading to Tuckborough to get the rest of his pony mob and head back towards his mountain home. Trying desperately not to think about the fact that he was leaving his family home for the last time, Bilbo set to work.

 

Bilbo heaved a sigh as took wing in his dragon shape. He’d made a trip to fly through the Ettenmoors today to see if he could find any other abandoned cities. It was a relatively close flight. He had left the ponies back in the city. He’d converted an entire empty hall into grass and lit it using the lanterns he’d created. Myrtle and the ponies loved it in there.

But now, returning home without any books to add to his collection, he couldn’t help but wonder what he should do. He smelled them. Even all the way up here in the air, the stench of troll was overpowering. The bad part was there were many tiny settlements of Men in this area. Rivendell wasn’t even that far away. He set himself to circle the area as he pondered what to do. The sun was setting rapidly and darkness was spreading across the land. The trolls would be out soon.

Bilbo circled and debated and circled and debated until the trolls came strolling out of their cavern. Once they did, he found himself once more at the mercy of dragon instincts. He folded his wings and dove.

 

When Bilbo finally came back to himself again, he was standing in the middle of a pile of shredded trolls. He immediately did his best to throw up at the sheer overpowering stench of it. The horrid taste in his mouth was making him gag, and all he could do is rush off to the river. He HAD to get clean.

Staggering and gagging, Bilbo laid down in the river, opening his mouth and trying to rinse the awful taste and smell off of him. He was moaning and groaning about the horrid taste. He was paying absolutely no attention to his surroundings, which meant he was completely surprised by someone speaking.

“Bilbo Baggins?! 

Bibo jerked his head up out of the river, staring at the Elf Lord on the bank in front of him. The two of them simply stared at each other in astonishment.

“Lord Elrond…?” Bilbo asked a bit weakly. He had honestly not planned on anyone else finding out about this dragon business.

“Sweet Eru…” Elrond walked up to the water’s edge. “I thought I recognized that voice.” He gestured, trying to get Bilbo to come closer. “Let me look at you, Bilbo. How did this happen?”

Bilbo just sat there, frozen by being exposed. Especially after losing control over the trolls. 

“Bilbo?” Elrond prompted again gently. “It’s alright my friend. I admit, we came looking for trolls, and when we saw a dragon we were worried.” He threw his head back and laughed. “Imagine my surprise when I recognized the voice of the dragon sitting in the river moaning about the awful taste of troll.”

“Well, it IS an awful taste! And an awful smell too. A really awful smell!” Bilbo muttered dunking his head and trying to swish the river water around in his mouth. “I’ve probably picked up a nasty disease from them, too.”

Other elves were coming out of the tree line then. Two that looked a lot like Elrond walked up and stood right behind him, while a blond one heavily armed was standing right at the water line just a few feet away. His worried eyes revealed a veritable army of armored elves standing just inside the trees.

Nervous, Bilbo slowly started backing up towards the far bank. Elrond frowned at his action and waded into the water.

“Bilbo Baggins! You are an elf friend and are in no danger here! Please… Do not flee.”

He held out a hand and waited. Feeling a bit ashamed, as good manners dictated that he at least speak a bit, Bilbo finally stopped and carefully touched his muzzle to Elrond’s palm.

“Fancy meeting you all the way out here in the dark. Who would have thought it?” He said politely. “Have things been well in Rivendell then? Lindir was quite lovely when I visited there several years ago on my way back to the Shire. In fact, he sent an entire mob of ponies with me, despite my best efforts.”

Elrond was smiling then, as well as the two elves behind him. The others came out of the tree line then, speaking softly in Sindarin. Bilbo couldn’t be bothered to listen as he was too busy trying to track the four close to him. 

“Bilbo, I have not had the opportunity previously, but I would like to introduce my sons Elladan and Elrohir.” Both of the elves bowed deeply.

“We are at your service Master Baggins.”

“Well, that explains why they look so much like you then, doesn’t it?” He looked over Elrond’s head at them and nodded his head politely. “Bilbo Baggins at your service also. Your father is a wonderful person and Rivendell is simply gorgeous. You are quite fortunate.”

Elrond’s hand had slid a bit higher up and was rubbing Bilbo just below his eye. It felt quite good actually, which was making him a bit nervous. He was a dragon after all. They were supposed to be a terror of the skies and all that. He supposed that was why he didn’t notice the blond one that was now rubbing his shoulder right next to Elrond. 

He jumped, but both elves simply moved with him.

“Bilbo, I would like to introduce you to Lord Glorfindel. He came along for a bit of troll slaying, but I think meeting a hobbit dragon has turned out to be a bigger draw.” He tapped Bilbo on the nose. “Come on. Out of the river with you. I’d like to see all of you.”

Giving all of them a wary eye as he was well aware of how good elves were with their bows, Bilbo slowly climbed out of the river. Even in the near complete darkness, Bilbo’s dragon form shone golden. Every scale glittered and gleamed like a polished gold coin and his gold eyes were shining in the darkness.

Once on shore though, the elves seemed to regard him as fair game. He found himself surrounded by them, all of them reaching out to touch him. At his alarmed look, Elrond laid his hand on his head once more.

“Peace, Bilbo. They are simply a bit enthusiastic. In all our long lives, none of us have ever been able to touch a live dragon before. You are actually quite large. I would have thought that you’d be smaller and more in line with your hobbit form.”

Bilbo blinked before nodding. “Me, too. Apparently, magic does what it wants, doesn’t it?”

“Sometimes it does, Bilbo. How did this happen?”

“I died on the trip home from Erebor. Orcs got me in the side and I bled out. Not before I got all the curse riddled carcasses though. I thought I’d wake up in Yavanna’s Gardens, but instead, I woke up covered with snow and in the form of a dragon. After lots of flailing and panicking, as I had recent memories of Smaug, I managed to change back into a hobbit and make it to Rivendell.”

Elrond looked intrigued. “Really? Do you think Smaug did something then?”

“I don’t…” Bilbo cut off as several elves jumped on his back and he panicked. For a moment, blind panic held him in place as Elrond started yelling orders, before he bolted. Straight backwards and into the river, he ducked under the water, swimming strongly upriver before launching from the water hard. 

He fought gravity for a few seconds before winning and climbing almost straight up. Even full darkness was no match for dragon vision and he flew as fast as he could, straight home. The feeling of someone on his back was terrifying!

It was several minutes of hard flying before he remembered that he could have very well hurt someone. Suddenly feeling guilty, he almost turned around before he remembered the elvish bows. If he had hurt someone, he’d probably be greeted by a barrage of arrows.

Forget it. Bilbo picked up his pace once more. All he wanted was the security of the city around him and his library.

Glorfindel watched the glorious golden dragon vanish into the darkness, making careful note of the direction. Elrond walked up next to him, now that he had finished reaming out his soldiers.

“They acted like children.”

Glorfindel laughed. “You must admit. It was something new, wasn’t it?”

“It was, but we frightened him.”

“We did. Next time, I think we should limit who gets close to him. He did okay with you, me and your sons. It was when the rest came up that he got nervous.”

“Did you feel it too?”

“I did. Master Baggins is a veritable furnace of magic. It’s probably why everyone got so touchy so quickly.”

“Do you think we can find him again?”

Glorfindel turned and grinned at him, fierce and sharp. “Oh definitely. Feel the air, Lord Elrond? It sings where he’s traveled. I think I could walk right to him.”

“Alright then. We’ll make sure the trolls are taken care of in the morning and then head off to track down the hobbit dragon. We can restock in Bree.”

Glorfindel stood there, staring into the darkness. “Did you see him take off? It was glorious! I wonder if one day I could convince him to take me on a flight.”

“Aye! Did you see him jump out of the river?” Elladan was eager. “That would have been amazing!”

“I hope he’s willing to give rides one day.” Elrohir was quiet. “He didn’t seem to like it when the others climbed on.”

“He didn’t know them, my sons. Bilbo is a wonderful being. I think with a bit of patience we can count on him giving at least a few elves a ride.”

At his sons’ hopeful expressions, he just shook his head. “Come on. It’s a long ride ahead of us to find Bilbo. I’ll have to send a rider back to Rivendell in the morning to let them know we’ll be out longer.”

Glorfindel walked alongside Elrond as they headed back to their horses. “As much magic as Master Baggins has, if he’s been there very long, the entire place will be saturated with it.” He looked over at Elrond. “Think of it. After all these centuries…”

Elrond looked wistful. “Aye. Now there’s a thought that will consume my mind until we find him.”

 

Bilbo had rushed back to his mountain home after his disastrous meeting with the elves. He had tossed and turned all night, worried over whether he had hurt someone before finally getting up and going to visit Myrtle and the others. He managed almost a week just by going on a massive cleaning spree of his home and the pony hall.

After that, he realized that he couldn’t stop worrying about it. So, he called Myrtle and the others, hitching up the wagon. He was going to Tuckborough. He could use a few more things for his pantry anyway and hopefully there, he could finally get his mind off of the elves.

He found himself calming down finally as he and the ponies strolled through the forest. All around him, life was in full bloom and being the hobbit that he was; Bilbo couldn’t help but enjoy it. It was almost a week after he left when he and his pony mob rolled into Tuckborough. What he found though was a far cry from the usual peaceful scene. The Tooks appeared to be arming themselves for battle.

Bilbo stopped his wagon and ponies near the stables and asked his ponies to wait for him as he had to find someone. With that, he dashed off to find his Uncle Hildifons. He was the current Head of the Bounders and would know what was happening.

When he finally found him, he was surrounded by a crowd of Bounders and Rangers. He stuck to the shadows at the edge of the crowd, trying to listen in as his Uncle was explaining the new patrols and signals that would be in use.

When the crowd finally broke, Bilbo stole his way through the crowd to his Uncle.

“Uncle Hildifons?”

Hildifons turned suddenly and Bilbo found himself being hugged within an inch of his life.

“Oh my boy! I have been worried to death about you! Please, Bilbo!” Hildifons let go of him, only keeping his hands on his shoulders. “Please, I don’t care what anyone else says; stay here in Tuckborough where I can keep an eye on you. You are my sister’s only son Bilbo and I love you dearly, lad. Please – tell me you’ll stay!”

“Uncle! What has happened? Why are you worried? Has there been an attack?”

“You didn’t know?” Hildifons searched his face before sighing. “Of course you don’t. How would you?” He grabbed Bilbo and turned back towards the stables. “A week and a half ago, there was a group of Elves near Bree. They were attacked by Gundabad orcs, Bilbo. I’m told that some kind of giant flying lizard things were there and carried off the elves they captured.”

“Carried them off…?” Bilbo felt faint at the thought of flying lizard things. “Where did they take them?”

“I’m sure they’re already in Mordor, Mister Hobbit.” Aragorn, son of Arathorn and current Chief of the Dunedain cut in. He was brushing his horse down quickly in front of them.

“Mordor? Why would they take them all that way? Wouldn’t orcs just kill them?”

Aragorn straightened and looked at Bilbo, eyebrows rising in surprise at the hobbit’s exotic appearance and coloring. “There is much foul magic that can be done using the life of an elf, Mister Hobbit. I’m sure that is what he took them for.”

“Aye. What I want to know is why Lord Elrond, Lord Glorfindel and Elrond’s sons were all traveling together near Bree. I didn’t think that they often went far from Rivendell.”

Aragorn shook his head. “Lindir told us that they were hunting trolls and had sent back a rider to tell them they were trailing an interesting find they had made and were headed west of the Shire.” Aragorn shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. They took the whole party that was still alive. At least 10 of them, including Lord Elrond.”

Bilbo paled so quickly that he felt faint and clenched his hands into fists. “This… Uncle, this is all my fault.”

Hildifons and Aragorn both turned slowly towards Bilbo. “Your fault? What in Yavanna’s name are you talking about, Bilbo?”

Gathering up his fraying courage, Bilbo straightened. “Do you have any good maps of Mordor, Aragorn?”

Aragorn’s eyebrows shot up. “Why exactly would you need a map?”

“I’m going to try and get them out of there.”

Hildifons laid a hand on Bilbo’s forehead. “I think you’ve done lost it, nephew. You’re a hobbit. Even if you could get there sometime in the next year, they would be dead by then.”

Bilbo turned to look at his Uncle and gestured to himself. “Do you think that my coloring and appearance is the only thing that changed on my quest, Uncle? I can make it from up in the mountains to Rivendell in a couple of hours. I can go to the Ettenmoors and back in half a day if I work at it. I can get to Mordor inside of a day or two, I’m sure.”

Aragorn’s eyes had narrowed as he spoke and he grabbed Bilbo’s shoulder. “If this is true, I must know! Lord Elrond is the only father I’ve ever known. I would go with you. But, you must tell me HOW you’re able to go places so quickly.”

Bilbo swallowed heavily and finally nodded. “I need someplace big Uncle where I won’t be seen. I’ll show you as long as I have your word that you won’t tell the other hobbits. I need to buy groceries here!”

Hildifons grabbed him by the arm and towed him off into the forest. Aragorn trailed right behind them as they went. He finally stopped them in a large clearing in the forest. It was quiet out here.

“Is this good enough?” Hildifons snapped, eyes fierce. “This had better not be a joke, nephew. There are enough things to worry about.”

“Oh, it’s no joke Uncle.” Bilbo walked out into the clearing and turned to look at them. “Your word from both of you that you won’t attack me.”

“My word? What nonsense! Bilbo, show me now!” Hildifons demanded.

Aragorn though was more thoughtful and he nodded. “You have my word, Mister Hobbit.”

With one last look at his Uncle, Bilbo released the magic and shifted into Dragon. When the golden fog released him, he was staring at his Uncle who had passed clean out on the forest floor. Aragorn though… He was a bit pale and wide eyed, but he was still standing.

“Is it still you Mister Hobbit?”

“It is. My name is Bilbo Baggins. Please, call me Bilbo.” Bilbo lowered his head to get a better look at Aragorn and nodded. “I’ll fly us. In fact, I think I can probably fly all of them out of Mordor if we have too. Which, come to think of it, we probably will.”

Aragorn had walked up and laid his hand on Bilbo’s shining golden shoulder, feeling the scale armor shift under his hand.

“How did this happen?”

“I went on a quest with dwarrow to reclaim Erebor. It seems that the dragon Smaug had the last laugh though. I mean, look at me. No longer a respectable hobbit of the Shire, am I?”

Aragorn nodded. “Do you have a saddle or harness or anything like that? I wouldn’t like to fall off when you’re in the air.”

“Oh, no… I didn’t think of that.”

Aragorn nodded. “It is of no matter. I think this time, the Rangers of the North and the hobbits of the Shire can attempt a rescue of the elves of Rivendell.” He stepped back and looked up at Bilbo. “Stay here. I’ll bring back a few people. We’ve got to work out a harness and supplies and a route… Not counting a plan.”

Aragorn picked up Hildifons and ran back down the forest trail leaving a worried Bilbo waiting behind him.

 

It was hours later before Bilbo was finally able to shift back into hobbit form and get something to eat. The Rangers and hobbits had set him down at a table filled to the top with food and drink. He had been told to eat well as they were leaving first thing in the morning.

Bilbo yawned and stretched a bit before putting together a sandwich. The last thing they had done was put 15 Men on his back (oh my, but that had been horrifying once more) and had him take off and fly with the load. Everyone wanted to make sure he could handle the weight.

It had been a bit of work, but still doable. He had a feeling with orcs, trolls and other nasties behind him; he’d be even more motivated to get out of there. He’d also had to demonstrate that he could still use hobbit magic in his dragon form and vanish into the background if needed.

He had managed to get the story of his meeting with Elrond and the other elves out while they were fitting him with a saddle and harness. Aragorn had agreed with him then that the elves were indeed probably coming to find him.

With that, Bilbo found that he couldn’t eat anything else. His stomach cramping from nerves and simply pushed away from the table. He was going to bed.

 

It was before dawn the next morning when Bilbo was awakened. Aragorn was already dressed in armor and holding out his breakfast.

“Come, Bilbo. Eat this while you get ready. We leave before dawn.”

Bilbo drug himself out of bed for a quick wash. He’d been on an adventure before. They were indeed nasty, dirty, wretched things that make you late for dinner. Or actually, more like miss dinner entirely.

He pulled on his clothes and picked up the sandwich Aragorn had brought with him, following him outside. In the still darkness, there were only a few torches lit by the Rangers as they assembled the gear. They had set up in the far training field and as Bilbo finished his sandwich, Aragorn asked him to change. Stilling his nerves, Bilbo released the magic and resumed the dragon form, crouching nervously. Aragorn had realized yesterday just how much it freaked him out to have people on him, so now, he stayed at Bilbo’s head and spoke quietly of their route and plan. Bilbo did his part to stay still as the straps were buckled and bags strapped down.

When the last Man jumped off, Aragorn swung up on him and started buckling himself into the saddle. Hildifons had made it in time and Bilbo lowered his head at his Uncle’s request. Hildifons was sniffling a bit as he patted Bilbo’s dragon head.

“You are without a doubt, the bravest hobbit I’ve ever heard of Bilbo Baggins. There will be many songs and stories told of you.”

Bilbo laughed, surprised at himself. “Uncle, there’s not much to sing about in things like this I’ve learned. They’re nasty and unpleasant, done by desperate people trying to avoid even nastier fates. Write a drinking song instead and hoist one for me, as I’ll be in the air at the time. Goodbye for now, Uncle Hildifons!” His Uncle backed rapidly away.

“Aragorn, make sure you that you’re braced well. That first jump off the ground is pretty hard.”

He felt Aragorn shift around. “Alright Bilbo. Anytime you’re ready.”

Bilbo stretched his wings out, unaware of the sight he made as his golden dragon form shimmered and shone in the darkness. Bilbo Baggins looked like something out of a First Age legend. The Rangers left on the ground cheered, calling out their battle cries and Bilbo launched. Gravity only fought for a moment before he was rising rapidly and heading southeast. They leveled out once he was a couple hundred feet up and Bilbo set himself to what he thought of as his travel pace.

Below them, the ground flew by at a pace faster than anything Aragorn had ever experienced. The wind screaming in his face though was a pain and not long after they lifted off, he had to dig out the strange glass mask that Hildifons had given him. He’d had his family make them last night when he heard the Rangers talking about the wind from just the short flight.

Aragorn spent the next several hours doing nothing but sitting quietly as Bilbo worked. The pace was a bit awe inspiring as he could already see the foothills of the Misty Mountains off to the east of them. They’d be there within the next hour or so.

“Bilbo? Do you need a break yet?” Aragorn called out over the howling of the wind.

That gleaming golden dragon head turned slightly so he could see one of the huge gold eyes.

“I’m fine, Aragorn. I think at this pace we can be well into Rohan by nightfall. Do you think there will be a river or something nearby that we could stop on? I’ll need a lot to drink after this.” Bilbo’s dragon voice was still the polite, cultured tone of his hobbit voice, just a lot deeper and more resonant.

“Once we clear the Gap of Rohan, we’ll look for the river and follow it as far as we can before night falls and then we’ll stop. Hopefully, we won’t run into any roaming patrols to cause problems.”

“Deal then.” That great head swung back towards the front as he corrected their course a bit more to the south, never pausing.

When they finally landed that night, Aragorn went to unsaddle Bilbo who simply moved away.

“Forget it Aragorn. We’d never get the harness back on right and we’ll be there tomorrow. I’ll be fine.”

Aragorn held up his piece of jerky. “But you haven’t eaten anything! After today’s workout, you need to recharge.”

“Eating in this form just makes me sleepy. It won’t be the first time I’ve missed a few meals.”

Aragorn slowly ate his jerky, feeling guilty as the hobbit finished drinking and spread his wings to cool off. Bilbo stayed like that for a couple of hours as full darkness fell. He finally walked over to Aragorn and curled up around him tightly. 

“There are a few orcs and wargs out here. I can smell them. It will be better if you stay here with me, okay?”

Aragorn got up and moved over to lie down against Bilbo’s head. He tucked his jacket around him a bit tighter and Bilbo unfolded a wing to better hide him. Aragorn slept fitfully, his mind constantly replaying what needed to happen tomorrow for them to be able to find the elves quickly and quietly.

It was still a bit before dawn when he felt Bilbo jerk against his back. He straightened up and turned to look, only to find Bilbo’s eyes wide open and astonished. 

“I feel them!”

“…What?”

“Lord Elrond and the others. I can feel exactly where they are. I can fly us straight to them if I have to.”

“When did this happen?”

“Right now. I heard Lord Elrond say my name and then it felt like a connection or something snapped into place. It’s like there’s a cord connecting us.”

Aragorn closed his eyes as relief washed over him. “Lord Elrond is gifted with foresight, Bilbo. Perhaps he knows we’re coming and is trying to help.”

Bilbo managed a bit of a chuckle. “I hope so. You are a warrior and trained. I’m just a hobbit and not likely to be of much use in a fight.”

Aragorn just patted his shoulder and climbed back up on Bilbo strapping himself back on. “I wouldn’t be here without you, Bilbo and the elves wouldn’t stand a chance. I think that it’s pretty amazing that you’re willing to help.”

Bilbo huffed and launched them into the air. “Help me recognize the landmarks Aragorn. I need to know when to put up some hobbit magic so we can’t be seen.”

“Will do. Remember our path through the mountains, right? We’re headed for Minas Morgul and you can tell me if they’re anywhere else once we get there.”

“Alright.” He could feel Bilbo take a deep breath and start muttering to himself. He had to strain to make out the words over the wind. “Come on Bilbo old boy. You faced down a dragon and a couple of complete nutters as Kings, orcs, wargs, trolls, giant spiders and even Smaug’s curse. You can do this hobbit… The world needs Lord Elrond. There aren’t enough good people left out there…”

Aragorn felt himself smiling as he patted the great shoulder under his hand. 

 

This time, the miles were flying by but it was nerve wracking. Aragorn was stressed out so he could imagine how Bilbo was feeling. The only plus side was that it was still before afternoon. Orcs and goblins were usually asleep at this time of the day.

“Aragorn. We’re almost there. I can see the tower that they’re in now.”

“Is it the tall one, Bilbo?

“It is. I think I can land on it. If so, you would have to go down to get to them. They feel like they’re only a floor or two below the top anyway.”

Aragorn clenched his hands, trying to release his tension. “Can you keep up the magic so that no one can see you?”

“Oh, yes. I wouldn’t last a minute otherwise. If you can release them, send them up and we’ll get everyone on board and get out of here!”

Below them stretched the blasted and burnt lands of Mordor. Aragorn could feel Bilbo working hard to slow so that they could land on the building without anyone noticing. Just as the hobbit dragon touched down, claws digging into the rock to hold him in place, they could see one of the winged lizards that the Ringwraiths liked to ride. He had a bundle thrown over his neck and they lifted off, heading deeper into Mordor as they watched.

Bilbo sounded sick when he spoke. “That was Elrond they just carried off.”

“What?!”

“Yeah. Hurry. I can still feel him, so we can track him if we can get everyone else on board right away.”

Aragorn jumped off and checked his weapons rapidly. “I’ll be back shortly, Bilbo.”

“Good luck, Chief of the Dunedain.”

Aragorn darted in through the door and slid along the wall. Just because they were supposed to be asleep didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be patrols around. However, the Valar seemed to be looking out for him this time. He made it down the first flight of rickety wooden stairs and found himself staring at a metal cage hanging over a pit of… something. It bubbled and oozed and honestly, he hoped he never found out what that was.

A quick check showed him that all of the elves were awake and watching him. Taking a deep breath, Aragorn slid slowly down the steps, following the directions that Glorfindel was signing to him. Sure enough, there was an orc propped up against the wall, sound asleep. Keys still on his belt.

A quick thrust of his sword and he was removing the keys from the dead orc. He kicked the lever which would swing the cage over solid ground. He had to operate the pulley which lowered the cage. It was rather loud and he went as quickly as he could. As soon as it was down, he unlocked the door and was surrounded by elves.

“Have you seen Elrond?”

“We watched him get hauled out of here just a bit ago. Bilbo is tracking him.”

“Bilbo…?”

Glorfindel suddenly smiled fiercely. “The hobbit dragon came?”

“He did. He’s going to fly all of us out of here once we get Elrond.”

There were pleased smiles all around as the elves raced back up the stairs with him. Aragorn checked the roof and slowly slid out. “Bilbo?”

“I’m still here. However, if I take the magic off, everyone can see me. You’ll have to walk over and touch me to see through it and get on. Hurry. Elrond is getting farther away now. That thing’s not flying very fast, but I don’t know what we’ll run into on the way back.”

As Bilbo spoke, the elves were moving. Bilbo was covered with elves as they strapped themselves on and dug through the bags Aragorn had brought for weapons. Once Aragorn had swung on and strapped himself down, he turned around.

“Everyone ready?”

“Aye!” All of the elves looked excited, even after being stuck in Mordor. 

“Go, Bilbo!”

“Brace yourself!” Bilbo launched into the air, a few rocks falling from his kick off. Once again, the ground fell away quickly as he sought altitude, flying in a straight line. It was easy for Aragorn to tell that Bilbo was pushing it hard for speed. Everything below them was a blur as the elves dug through the bags once more, handing out the glass shields for their eyes.

At the hobbit’s pace, it was only 15 minutes or so before Bilbo called out.

“There he is. Do you want me to see if I can force him onto the ground?”

Aragorn turned to look at Glorfindel. The elf looked stern. He recognized Glorfindel’s battle face. The one he used when he had to make decisions he didn’t like.

“Do it. We have to get Elrond.”

However, as Bilbo closed, the lizard suddenly shrieked and banked hard. The orc that had been riding fell off one side and Elrond, still bundled up in ropes and not able to stop himself, fell off the other.

Behind him, Aragorn heard all of the elves moan almost as one at the sight of their Lord in freefall, but he could feel the hobbit gathering beneath him.

“Hang on!” Aragorn called out, just as Bilbo folded his wings and dove. The wind screamed around them as the hobbit dragon angled himself towards Elrond. Aragorn knew he was grinning fiercely. He could feel Bilbo’s determination to get to him in the very air itself. 

Bilbo managed to close his clawed feet around Elrond when they were less than 50 feet in the air and he had to angle his wings hard to level out before they crashed into the ground. Magic was burning off from the sheer effort the hobbit was putting forth to recover and then finally… One wing beat, two, then three before the familiar rhythm picked back up and Bilbo headed for one of the mountains and a spot to sit down.

The very moment he dropped to the ground, Glorfindel was off and cutting Elrond loose, dragging him to his feet. They sat him right behind Aragorn and tied him in firmly.

“Go, Bilbo!”

Once more, their hobbit dragon sprang into the air. They hadn’t flown more than a few minutes before the elves in the back were calling out warnings.

“Incoming! Do you want us to take them out?”

Elrond closed his eyes briefly before nodding. “They’re following Bilbo by scent now and not by sight. Drop any you can.”

Elrond leaned over and patted the shoulder straining beneath his hand. “Just go as fast as you can Bilbo. Straight out. Minas Tirith is due west from here and we can seek sanctuary there if we have to.”

“Okay.” Bilbo called out, never pausing. They had made it back to Minas Morgul when things started to go wrong. Ahead of them, they could see a squadron of 8 of the winged lizards rising into the air. It was obvious that Bilbo wasn’t going to be able to get past them before they were high enough to intercept.

“Please make sure that everyone and everything you want is strapped on. This is going to get ugly.” Bilbo managed to gasp out. The elves snapped swords down but kept their bows at the ready. The quivers had been modified with covers so there wasn’t even a danger of losing arrows.

As they closed into firing range, the elves started shooting and Bilbo was grateful to see that they managed to drop five of the things. He banked hard, avoiding the clumsy rush by the one in the lead and found himself face to face with second. Without even pausing for thought, he arched and backwinged hard, lifting up and over the second one. 

Seeing clear air, he straightened out and started flying hard once more. It wasn’t to be though as he was charged from the side. Bilbo rolled sideways, grateful that everyone was tied on as he avoided the thing. He continued to bank, seeing it leveling out below him and folded his wings, diving once more.

“BILBO!” Aragorn’s shocked yell rang out as the hobbit dragon collided with the lizard at speed, clawed feet ripping its wings to shreds as he knocked it out of the air. He struggled to recover once more as his exhaustion was rising, but soon had them leveled out. The mountain range was slowly falling into foothills and in the distance they could see Osgiliath, the port city of Minas Tirith.

“We’re almost there, Bilbo!” Aragorn called out.

“Aye, but the two nasties aren’t letting up. Hang on.”

Bilbo changed his flight pattern and they rose even higher in the air. He wanted more space if he was charged again. He could hear the twang of the bowstrings as the elves shot at them any time they’d get in range.

With a roar, the one on his left suddenly closed up the distance between them and Bilbo banked hard, rolling towards it though and ultimately under and out the other side. Once clear, the hobbit dove slightly and flipped, rolling back into the lizard from underneath, using his feet and teeth to good effect. The two of them were locked together, spiraling down before Bilbo launched himself away and fought to regain his orientation and flight, steadying himself.

“The other one is giving up! It’s headed back to Mordor!”

Elrond, who was himself in terrible condition from Mordor, still had a hand on Bilbo’s shoulder.

“Bilbo! Set down! Set down by the river! Do it now!” Elrond ordered and hobbit didn’t even try to complain. Aragorn could feel the hobbit’s exhaustion now, he moved as though every single beat of his wings was torture, but they were almost on the ground.

They could see a group of horse soldiers in armor closing in on them, but it was more important to get Bilbo on the ground. With one last flap, he set them down hard and fell flat on his belly. Every one of them jumped off, pulling off gear and harnesses as quickly as they could. Bilbo’s sides were heaving, great gasping breaths of air and he hadn’t bothered to retract his wings. They were sprawled out full length on the ground on either side of him.

Elrond and his sons were all working on Bilbo as he watched while Glorfindel and the others had walked out to talk to the Men. Aragorn just waited by Bilbo’s head, patting him quietly and telling him what a brave soul he was.

The Men were wary but Glorfindel had apparently convinced them that Bilbo was not a threat. They had all gathered in a semi-circle to see the elves working on the great golden dragon.

Bilbo’s breathing was much better and Elrond and his sons were backing away. 

“Into the river with you, Bilbo. You need to cool off a lot more.” Elrond said, waving his hand. “Come on. We’ll all keep you company.”

Bilbo lifted his head and the Men all shifted uneasily and fingered their weapons. The hobbit dragon merely stretched and folded his wings back tightly before turning to follow Elrond obediently. He vanished into the water.

When he finally stuck his head back up, steam was rising off of him. Glorfindel laughed. “So Bilbo, does lizard taste as bad as troll?”

Bilbo swished the water around his mouth again before spitting it out and turning his eye towards Glorfindel. “Equally nasty, I would say. Although troll does smell a lot worse, I’ll give them that.”

Aragorn smiled as the Men started whispering among themselves at Bilbo’s lovely voice. Elrond was waving towards Bilbo, and telling him to come back to shore. Once the golden dragon was back on shore, he laid his hand on Bilbo’s shoulder.

“Change back, Bilbo. We need to get a few good meals in you and a couple of nights sleep before we head back. Change back.”

Once more, the great dragon was surrounded by a golden fog of magic and when it cleared, a rather battered, exotic looking hobbit was standing next to Elrond.

“It’s good to see you took no lasting injury Lord Elrond. Is everyone else alright too? I’m afraid I was a bit too busy to ask how everyone was.” Bilbo had to stop and yawn as his body started to make its demand for sleep known.

“Aragorn! Could you carry Bilbo? I think he’s asleep on his feet.” Elrond asked in Sindarin.

Aragorn nodded and scooped Bilbo up; carrying him bridal style, to the hobbit’s many protests.

Aragorn just laughed. “You’ve been carrying me for days now, Bilbo. I think it’s time I returned the favor.”

Elrond was introduced to Boromir, son of the steward of Gondor. After some discussion, they were given shelter in Osgiliath as the elves insisted that they only needed a place to clean up, rest and eat.

They finally brought out a couple of wagons to carry them back to town and were given quarters in one of the nicer hotels. Bilbo didn’t know any of this as he had gone to sleep within minutes of Aragorn picking him up.

 

It was two days later before Bilbo finally woke up and stayed awake. They’d only been able to get him up long enough to eat and tend to himself before he was asleep again. He didn’t know it, but he’d had either Aragorn, Elrond, Glorfindel or Elrond’s sons in the room with him the entire time. The Men were mighty curious about the hobbit dragon and it was a bit worrying. No one shared that with Bilbo though.

It was only after Bilbo devoured an enormous breakfast that he sat back with a sigh and stretched.

“Do any of you know if there’s a place I can take dragon shape in, but still be on the earth? I’m tired of being tired. I want to hurry things along.”

Elrond looked startled. “Speed things along? What do you need contact with the ground for?”

“I’m a hobbit, Lord Elrond. The earth sustains us. A couple of hours in the sun and on the dirt of good earth and I’ll be good to go once more.”

“All hobbits can do this? I find that there seems to be much I don’t know about hobbits lately, Bilbo.”

Bilbo looked a bit puzzled but answered. “Of course. Now, it’s like any other ability, some are better than others, but I’ve always been good with the earth. Both the Baggins and Tooks have been strong with it.”

Elrond nodded to Glorfindel who rose to his feet. “I’ll let them know we’re going out for a few hours today.”

Bilbo brightened immediately and smiled. “Thank you, Lord Glorfindel.”

The blond elf Lord smiled back at him before vanishing out the door. Elrond leaned towards Bilbo.

“Now Bilbo, there are a few things you need to know. First, do not go anywhere when you’re not escorted by either myself, Glorfindel, Aragorn, Elladan or Elrohir. Preferably two or more of us.”

“It… It’s that dangerous here? I had no idea! I mean, I know that they’re next door to Mordor, but I thought Gondor was stable.”

Aragorn smiled a bit grimly. “It’s not the country Bilbo. It’s the way you look that makes it dangerous. The Men got to see you on our way into town. Let’s just say that they appreciated the color of your hair and the attractiveness of your features and leave it at that.”

Bilbo had at first gone pale before suddenly turning red. “I’ve always been told that Men don’t prefer the company of their own sex. I’m glad you told me as I would have never even suspected it. How embarrassing…”

Elrond patted him on the shoulder. “It’s not a problem Bilbo, as long as we’re cautious. Second, if anyone asks how you turn into a dragon, simply refer them to Glorfindel or myself. Don’t answer any questions at all about your quest or Smaug or well, pretty much anything. We have already made it clear to the Men that you are an anomaly and no other hobbits are like you. If there are any other issues, I want them to come to the Elves before they bother the hobbits.”

Bilbo had paled once more at his words. “I knew I needed to keep this a secret and that’s why I was so surprised when I met all of you that night. I guess it was the trolls that threw me off as I had been so careful up until then…” He sighed. “But trolls are nasty and I just couldn’t stop myself from taking them out. All of those little towns of Men were around there.”

Elrond laughed. “Well, I for one am quite glad that I met you, Bilbo Baggins. Your mother would have been quite proud with how you turned out. I’ve never met a braver hobbit than you.”

Bilbo snorted at his words, shaking his head. “Please. I hauled out of there that night as fast as I could because it scared me so badly when everyone decided to jump on. I was miles away Lord Elrond before I even wondered if I had hurt anyone. Then I spent the next few miles wondering if I should go back and check but I was too scared. I figured if I did hurt someone, all of you would shoot me out of the air before I could say anything.”

“Bilbo!” Elrond said firmly. “If anyone had been hurt that night, it would have been our fault. My people are grown and know better than to just jump on a dragon like that. Nothing happened though. No one was hurt, although several did get a dunking in the river.”

“Besides Bilbo, if it wasn’t for you, Lord Elrond and all the others would still be stuck in Mordor, if they weren’t already dead.” Aragorn said.

Glorfindel arrived then and their conversation was interrupted. All Bilbo had to do was walk with them, as they kept him in the middle of their group. He wasn’t too disappointed though as he quickly saw that Osgiliath was made up of nothing but run-down wooden buildings. He noticed though that all of the elves and Aragorn were carrying their weapons with their packs thrown over their shoulders.

The sun was shining brightly and Bilbo flexed his toes into the dirt of the grasslands around him. Already, he could feel the earth’s magic rising up to greet him.

“Is this a good spot, Bilbo?” Glorfindel asked him.

“Oh, yes. It’s fine.” At his words, all of them backed away, leaving him space to change, which he promptly did. He sighed, stretching his wings wide before lying down. Connected to the earth, Bilbo called up the earth’s magic and let it flow into him.

Within moments, a stunned looking Elrond walked over to his head. He spoke quietly and in Sindarin.

“Would it be okay if we use some of this magic to heal, Bilbo? We don’t have any major injuries left, but the many cuts could get infected.”

Startled, Bilbo tipped his head for a better look at Elrond. He could see it now, the elf Lord was exhausted still and from the way he was standing, he was hiding some damage. He nudged Elrond into his side carefully until he gave in and jumped up on him.

“There’s more than enough for everyone. Heal yourselves.” Was all Bilbo said. Elrond patted his side and smiled at the others, calling out in Sindarin. All of the elves jumped up onto Bilbo, calling forth magic and healing their many injuries. Aragorn stayed by Bilbo’s head, finally sitting on the ground and leaning back against him.

They spent the next couple of hours that way, a giant pile of dragon, elves and a lone Ranger all sleeping in the sun. Boromir and the other armored soldiers had gotten bored after the first hour and after leaving a couple of guards with them, headed back to town.

Bilbo finally woke up feeling much, much better. He nudged Aragorn to wake him and then raised his head, finding that he was still covered with recovering elves.

“Aragorn, do you know when they wanted to leave?” Bilbo asked him.

“I think it’s more whenever you’ve recovered enough to leave, Bilbo.” 

“Oh, well I’m quite good again, so just let me know. I’m afraid after what all of you told me, I’m not very interested in hanging around.”

“In that case Bilbo, we’ll drag out the harness and get it on you.” Elrond said, rousing the others.

“We can rest in the air. You’re the one doing the work.” Elladan said before laughing and shoving his brother off of Bilbo.

“How far do you think you can make it before dark, Bilbo? Without pushing yourself.” Glorfindel asked, jumping down and walking up to his head.

Bilbo tipped his head considering. “Oh, even with all of you, I can probably make it to the other side of the Gap of Rohan. Just so long as I find water, I’ll be fine.”

“Aye.” Aragorn agreed a bit grimly. “There are more than enough of us to get your harness back on, Bilbo. You’ll be eating and drinking with the rest of us, even if you choose to sleep in your dragon form.”

“Actually, I think it would be a bit better for us to head more north. We can overnight outside of Lothlorien next to the Anduin and cross over the Misty Mountains there. We’d be closer to Rivendell. That way too, if by chance you tire earlier, we’ll already be following the river.” Elrond said walking up.

Bilbo shrugged and rose to his feet. “It’s all fine with me, Lord Elrond. I got all of you into this mess. The least I can do is get you home.”

The elves and Aragorn set to work, harnessing Bilbo back up and strapping on their bags. Boromir and his squadron were back by then. The Man dismounted and walked up to Aragorn. “You all are leaving then? I know my father would be honored to host all of you in Minas Tirith.”

Elrond smiled and bowed. “Normally we would be honored to accept, but as our situation is a bit unusual, we’d prefer to head immediately home. I’ve got to make sure that my people are doing well. I’ve heard nothing since we were taken.”

Boromir nodded. “Of course, Lord Elrond. It was an honor to meet you.” The Man turned to Bilbo then. “Master Baggins, we’re all wondering about your story, but any being that’s allied with the elves must be a good one. It would be an honor to fight alongside you one day, golden dragon.”

If a dragon could look flustered, Bilbo did before finally nodding his head. “It’s a wonderful offer. Hopefully peace will hold though and there won’t be a need for more fighting.”

“It’s a good wish, Master Dragon.” Boromir swung back up on his horse as all of the elves were jumping on and strapping themselves down. Behind the Men, Bilbo could see that apparently the entire town was lined up on the grasslands, watching.

After checking with Elrond, Aragorn turned to Bilbo. “Anytime you’re ready, Bilbo. Let’s go!”

Bilbo crouched under them and exploded into the sky, the wind already whistling by them as he gained speed and turned north, still climbing. Everyone was putting on their glasses by that point and Bilbo leveled out a couple of hundred feet up.

“Is this pace faster or slower than when the two of you came to Mordor?” Elrond asked Aragorn.

“Slower. By quite a bit actually.”

“Slower…” Elrond said in disbelief. “I was going to have to take him to task, but it seems he’s following my instructions.”

Aragorn laughed at his foster father. “He is a quite sensible hobbit, you know.”

“Indeed. A hobbit that changes into a dragon and was willing to challenge Mordor to get us out.”

All of the elves murmured their thanks and patted Bilbo, who wasn’t paying them any mind at all. He was busy trying to navigate.

Behind them, back on the ground, Boromir turned to his brother Faramir.

“Was that not spectacular, brother?” He said, clapping him on the shoulder.

“It was, Boromir. The elves have a formidable ally in that one. I wonder what happened to that hobbit to change him like that. Even more so, I wonder why I couldn’t have been fortunate enough to find him and befriend him.”

Boromir laughed, long and loud. “You’re right. No finer mount out there than a golden dragon, is there?”

Faramir grinned back at him as they turned back towards Osgiliath. “That’s right. You heard them. The dragon flew from the western edge of Arnor, all the way here in two days.”

“It’s amazing, is what it is! I hope the elves bring him back.”

“Me too, brother.”

 

Bilbo yawned and settled more firmly against Aragorn. It had taken two days to make it to Lothlorien at the pace he’d set, but they had enough supplies and Elrond was most pleased that he hadn’t pushed himself to do it. As it was, darkness had fallen, but they’d been met by a group of Elves from Lothlorien when Bilbo had landed by the Anduin.

Elrond hadn’t seemed surprised and all of the Elves had pitched in and gotten the gear off of him and he’d changed back to his hobbit form. Once Aragorn had settled into a spot, he’d simply picked up and set down next to him. It was comfortable around him. He lacked the air of immense age that the Elves had, which always made him feel like a tween again.

“Aragorn…” He finally asked, as some of the questions he’d thought about over the last few days came back to him. “Do the Rangers of the North have a home? A base or a city or anything? Or are your people homeless?”

He felt Aragorn flinch and hastened to apologize, only to be brushed off. “It’s alright, Bilbo. Old wounds, I guess I would say. But, to answer honestly, we have no home. We travel the borders of the Shire and wander Arnor year round.”

Bilbo studied the millions of stars overhead before sighing as he came to a decision. “Do you want a home?”

Aragorn snorted in surprise at the question and Bilbo snickered. “What kind of question is that supposed to be Bilbo? Of course we’d prefer a home. Homelessness is hard on the sick, the pregnant, the young and the elderly. But we don’t have the funds to build a town. We only own what we carry on our horses.”

“Well… You see… I’ve been a bit lonely in my home for these past few years. As a hobbit, I’ve gotten used to dealing with nosy neighbors and unpleasant relatives, parties and celebrations, tea with company… I find that I miss these things and I never thought I would.”

Aragorn laughed then before nodding. “Aye. The Shire is indeed full of those things, Bilbo.”

Bilbo nodded. “It is, it is. But I guess I’m trying to say that I’m offering you a home. Your people don’t seem to mind hobbits, being as they wander the Shire. I don’t think they’d bother me. My home is huge and currently empty, besides my pony mob, my garden and me.”

“Bilbo, there are currently almost 2500 Rangers. You wouldn’t have to have a large home. You’d have to have a city!”

“I know.” He leaned into Aragorn’s side, enjoying the companionship. “I do.”

Aragorn jerked behind him and grabbed his shoulders, turning him around. “WHAT? What are you telling me, Bilbo? A city? Truly?”

Bilbo nodded. “I flew through the Blue Mountains a lot when I was still practicing. During one of those trips, I found an old dwarven city. Took me a bit to figure out how to get in, but once I did, I found it empty.”

He took a deep breath, remembering the loneliness he’d been dealing with. “I tried to live as a regular hobbit Aragorn, but apparently dragons just aren’t comfortable long term out in the open. Inside my smial was a bit better, but I found that I craved the security of stone. That city fit the bill perfectly as it’s big enough for the dragon form also.”

“Is it big enough to house all of my people?”

Bilbo shrugged. “Honestly, I never finished exploring it. It goes for miles up into the mountains. I set up my house, garden and pony hall near the gates. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s been abandoned for who knows how long, but it still has a library! Which I’ve been adding to, whenever I get the chance to go exploring the old cities out there.”

“How far away from the Shire is it, Bilbo?”

“It takes me about a week of travel with the wagon and no particular interest in speed, to reach Tuckborough.” He patted Aragorn’s knee. “Probably what’s best for you though is that the Treasury isn’t empty. Still a huge pile of gold and stuff in there.”

Aragorn searched Bilbo’s face frantically for any sign of falsehood. “You’re completely serious.”

“I am.”

Aragorn hugged him. “I will definitely come back with you Bilbo. I want to see this city for myself. The thought of my people finally having a home is almost more than I can bear.”

Bilbo just laughed and patted him once more. They sat there quietly for a while after that, Bilbo studying the stars and Aragorn contemplating having a true home for his people. It was Aragorn who broke the silence next.

“Bilbo… What do you know of Elves?”

The hobbit heaved a sigh. “Not much. I know personally though that Lord Elrond is one of the good ones. Ol’ Thranduil in the Mirkwood… Not someone I’d want to be around.” Bilbo sniffed. “Highly unpleasant fellow, let me tell you.”

“What has Thranduil done to you then, Master Baggins?” Aragorn said with a laugh.

“Threw the dwarrow I was questing with in the dungeon without so much as a by your leave! Not even counting the absolutely endless racial slurs… My mother used to tell me stories of the Elves and I can say honestly that time has not improved all of them.”

Bilbo slapped his forehead. “Oh! And let’s not forget that the ol’ fella is more gold-mad than most dwarrow! If it’s sparkly, he wants it and he doesn’t care how many of his people die for him to get it.” He shuddered. “Nasty.”

Aragorn looked stunned. “Do you know him then?” Bilbo asked. “His son Legolas now, I did meet him briefly and he didn’t seem to be anything like his father, thank goodness. He seemed like a downright lovely person.”

“Aye. I know Legolas and I would agree with you. He is indeed a good Elf to know.” Aragorn cleared his throat before continuing. “I seem to have gotten us a bit off track though. I was asking about Elves and what you knew of them. Especially what you might know about Elves and magic.”

Bilbo shrugged. “Nothing. Except that they’re good at using it.”

Aragorn nodded once more. “Elves do indeed use magic, Bilbo. They are able to draw in and harness magic from the environment around them. I’m told that ages ago, so called ‘free’ magic was thick in the air itself and all Elves had more than enough to use. It was the height of their strength then, the First Age.”

“Oooh… Are you talking of Gondolin and the rest then?”

“I am. Lord Glorfindel was alive in the First Age. (‘Unbelievable…’ Bilbo muttered.) One thing that Elves noticed right away though after the First War, was that the amount of free magic available for them to use had gone down dramatically. Every century since then, there has been less and less magic for them to use.”

“That’s horrible! Does the Earth Song not work for Elves then? They can’t use the magic from it?”

Aragorn shook his head. “No. In fact, until you told them of it back in Osgiliath, they had no idea that hobbits could call up magic at all.”

“Truly?” Bilbo looked interested. “As nosy and gossipy as hobbits are, I’m surprised that was a secret.”

“Well, it was.”

“Oh! So then they don’t know that dwarrow can call magic either then, do they? They call theirs Stone Sense, but it’s the same principle. Hobbits listen to the Earth and dwarrow listen to the Stone.”

Aragorn looked astonished once more. “I had no idea! I will have to tell Lord Elrond of that one and see if he knew!” Aragorn shook his head. “You keep distracting me! Anyway, as I was trying to say, Elves were created to use the magic available in the world, and as it decreased, there was less and less for them to use. However, up until recently, they had the Rings of Power to help sustain them. They could use the Rings to sustain the wards that kept their lands safe. Once the Ring of Power was destroyed though…”

“They lost their access to magic, didn’t they?” Bilbo said worriedly. “What does that mean for them?”

Aragorn looked terribly sad for a moment. “It means that they’re dying, Bilbo. An elf cannot live for long without magic available. They were designed to use it and without it, they Fade.”

“That’s why the Elves are all going to Valinor… Everyone was wondering about it. They’re dying! After all they’ve done for Arda… Well, except for Thranduil.” Bilbo tacked on with an eye roll.

Aragorn poked him in the side for his comment. “Now, the Elves left here are all starving to death, as they need to ‘eat’ magic as much as food. Then, out of nowhere, a hobbit dragon shows up.”

Bilbo laughed. “Don’t tell me. They can ‘eat’ magic when I’m around?”

Aragorn wasn’t laughing though. “Exactly. Although none of them knew hobbits could call magic, you Bilbo Baggins, are apparently a veritable furnace of magic. They told me back in Osgiliath, that they were hoping they could entice you to let them move to where you live, as apparently your magic saturates the area. They once again have the magic they need to live.”

Bilbo looked stunned, then confused and finally a bit wary. “You’re having me on, aren’t you?”

“No, Bilbo. I’m just wondering if your city is big enough for my people and at least the Elves of Rivendell that wish to stay here on Arda.”

“They haven’t said anything though.”

“I know. I think that is why Lord Elrond wished to come this way. He wanted to know if they wished also to consolidate and move into the same area – with you. He would need to know before he could try and work out an agreement with you.”

“An agreement…?” Bilbo sighed once more. “I was just going to let you move in. I’m just a hobbit. I don’t need a lot. All of you are welcome to anything the city has to offer. Well, Elves love books right? I mean, Lord Elrond has a library! They won’t mess up the one in the city, will they? Just because it was crafted by dwarrow?”

Aragorn leaned over and hugged Bilbo tightly. “I can assure you, being as I grew up in Rivendell, that Lord Elrond does indeed love books and would have the hide of anyone who thought they wanted to damage one.”

“Good.” Bilbo said, relieved, just as Elrond chimed in.

“I would indeed have to have strong words if someone wanted to damage my books. I’m glad to see that you remember my rules, Aragorn.”

Elrond, Glorfindel and a crowd of Elves Bilbo didn’t recognize walked over to the two of them.

“Are you feeling well, Bilbo? Ready to continue tomorrow?” Elrond asked as he scrutinized the hobbit. Bilbo nodded.

“Of course, Lord Elrond. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Well, the Elves of Lothlorien have been kind enough to set up a camp for us tonight, so we’ll sleep under shelter.”

“Really?” Bilbo’s face lit up. “Which way do I go?” 

All of them laughed at the eager hobbit and Elrond waved a blond elf forward. “Haldir here can show you where you can rest tonight, Bilbo.”

“Oh, thank you very much!” Bilbo patted Aragorn once more. “Feel free to talk to them about what we discussed. I’m off to bed.”

Bilbo vanished into the darkness, chatting with Haldir who looked at bit bemused at all the questions being fired at him. Aragorn was smiling as they left.

“Aragorn?” Elrond came and crouched down next to him. “Are you alright? You look a bit pale.”

Aragorn closed his eyes briefly before opening them and hugging Elrond tightly. “Never better, Father.”

Elrond tightened his arms around him, patting his back. “What in Eru’s name were the two of you talking about?”

Aragorn let him go, his eyes a bit wet. “Bilbo offered his home to my people, Father. And yours.”

“What?!” Elrond’s voice was strangled and Aragorn laughed as the others crowded around.

“It turns out that on one of Bilbo’s practice flights through the Blue Mountains, he discovered an abandoned dwarven city. He said that he’d tried living on the plains and in the Shire, but apparently the dragon in him is not satisfied until it’s secure in a stone home. He moved his belongings there, Father.”

Elrond and Glorfindel both looked intrigued. “An abandoned dwarven city…? I wonder which one?”

Aragorn shrugged. “Bilbo said it goes on for miles under the mountains and he never finished exploring it. He said he set up his home, a hall for his ponies and his garden near the door. The only other thing he uses is the library, which is where you walked in. Oh, and he offered me the Treasury, which is apparently not empty.”

“This hobbit of yours is indeed a most amazing individual.” A cool voice rose out of the darkness and Aragorn looked up to see Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien. He scrambled to his feet to bow.

Elrond rose also and smiled at him. “Did you hear, Lord Celeborn?”

“I did. I’m not sure how our people will take to living under stone after so long in the forests, but I would like to send a couple with you to investigate.” He held out his arm in a sweeping gesture. “I know we only just broke up our meeting, but please, let us talk this over once more. Especially since you’re leaving in the morning. I need to get the right people together.”

They vanished towards the tents and Aragorn watched them leave before heading to the tent where Bilbo was sleeping. He was still a Man and needed sleep far more than the Elves did.

 

It was three days later before Bilbo was finally almost home. They had spent one day in the air, crossing the Misty Mountains. He’d been fully loaded for that flight, as the Lothlorien elves had sent four with them. With 15 people on him, Bilbo had been more than ready to set down in Rivendell. That had been exhausting.

They’d spent the next day and a half in Rivendell, while Elrond and everyone made arrangements of some type. He had no idea what, but they’d been busy. They’d left in the afternoon today and he’d hauled 15 people, different elves yet, on this last leg of his trip. One last bank around a peak, and he could see the giant stone doors of his home.

He started to descend, only to see Men come rushing out into the clearing.

“Aragorn?!” He cried out, alarmed.

“It’s okay Bilbo. They’re Rangers. Go ahead and set down.”

He changed wing beats and started to descend once more, finally settling on the cleared area in front of the gates. The Men came rushing up and Aragorn jumped off, laughing and hugging them. Elrond had stopped at Bilbo’s head and laid his hand on him.

“How do we get in Bilbo? We’d rather you went in as a dragon and we’ll unload and remove the harness inside. It’s getting dark and we’d rather be secure.”

“Oh, of course Lord Elrond.” He pointed with a clawed toe to the left. “Send someone up that way about 200 feet or so and they’ll see a patch of boulders sitting there. Behind the biggest boulder is a door. Go in and turn right. It comes straight back to the gates and the pulley to open them is right out in the open. I left a lantern by the door. Just tell them to touch it and say ‘On’ in Westron and it’ll light up.”

Glorfindel and Elladan both vanished up the hill while everyone waited. When a familiar neigh broke the silence, Bilbo lifted his head over everyone. 

“Myrtle?” His pony mob came trotting out of the darkness, trailing a tie line that they had obviously pulled up. The ponies ran right up to him, all of them whickering in greeting as he called each of them by name.

“I’m sorry girls, but I can’t give you a treat yet. I don’t have hands right now. Wait until we get inside, okay?” Bilbo crooned to his ponies, oblivious to the stares of everyone else. When the gates finally started to swing open, Bilbo and ponies started forward immediately, glad to be home.

Elrond, Elrohir and the other Elves came trotting after them, followed by the Rangers that Aragorn was trying to fill in. Glorfindel and Elladan met them at the gate with Bilbo’s lantern.

“Did you make this yourself, Bilbo?” Glorfindel asked him with a bit of an odd smile.

“Of course not, Lord Glorfindel. I don’t know the first thing about smithing or glass work. All I did was scratch the runes on the thing so that it would work. Way better and a lot cheaper than candles. I also don’t have to worry about fires around my books.”

“Have you seen one like this before then? I must admit that I’ve never seen anything like it.” He continued. Bilbo had walked in and stopped in the central courtyard inside the doors.

“No, Lord Glorfindel. I got the idea from reading about Mage Lights in the older histories and I adapted it for the lanterns.” He lifted his head. “Aragorn? How many horses do they have? There might be room in the pony hall if they’ll get along with Myrtle.”

All of the Elves were watching the dragon fussing as the Rangers led their horses in. Once everyone was inside, Elladan closed the main gates, leaving them in darkness broken only by a lantern and a shining, golden dragon.

“Well, this will never do, will it?” Bilbo huffed and stood up on his back legs, nose touching something on the ceiling. “On!”

Light exploded across the room as a web of lights lit all at once across the ceiling. Now, it was as bright as day inside. The only ones not startled were the ponies and Bilbo.

“Much better.” He settled back down. “Now, if someone would be so good as to remove this gear from me, I need to get the girls settled and find a bite for dinner.”

Speechless from the casual use of a magic he wasn’t familiar with, Elrond gestured for the others and all of them set about removing their gear and finally the harness. Bilbo stretched himself out, glorying in the freedom and changed back into hobbit form.

“Much better!” Myrtle came trotting up then and he scratched her nose while crooning nonsense at her. He finally realized that everyone was staring at him and flushed in embarrassment. “Sorry, but I haven’t been here in a while now. It’s good to be home.” 

He pointed towards a dark hallway. “Down that hall is the Pony hall. I’ll turn the lights on and show you how to do it also.” He pointed to yet another hall. “At the end of that hall is the door to my home. Left of my door is the room I claimed as my garden, which by the way, I had best get by to water tonight!”

“Lord Elrond?” Bilbo gestured to him and walked over to the hallway to his room. “Right here is the set of runes I use to turn on the lights. I just push at bit of magic at it and tell it ‘On’ in Westron. I built them for Westron, so I don’t think they’ll work with Sindarin.”

Elrond laid his hand on the runes and sent a bit of magic at it. “On.” A dim light suddenly ran down the hallway and Bilbo slapped himself on the forehead. 

“I am so sorry! I forgot to mention that you control the brightness by how much magic you send to it! More magic, the brighter the light.”

Elrond just smiled and sent a bit more magic down into the rune and was rewarded with a wonderful, well lit hallway. It was much brighter than any candle lit hallway he’d ever seen.

“Everything in my home is hobbit sized, I’m afraid. You are however welcome to use anything you need. The pantry is in there also, just off of my kitchen.” Bilbo walked down the hall, trailing a string of Men and Elves. He turned to the door on the left and opened it.

Light poured out and he smiled brightly. “Oh, it still looks good thank Yavanna!” The hobbit walked on in, grabbing his watering can and wandering through the lush jungle of vegetables.

All of the Elves walked in, carefully spacing themselves out into the rows. All around them, they could feel it. Magic… The very air in here sang with it. Glorfindel seemed frozen; as he was overwhelmed by a feeling he had forgotten after all this time. He had forgotten what it felt like when the world lived and breathed magic…

Bilbo finally came wandering back, smiling happily. “Everything else will hold until the morning now.” He stepped out and opened up the door to his home, leaning in to turn on the lights. Standing in the doorway, which was more than high enough for Elves and Men to walk through, he pointed in while speaking. “I brought the furnishings from Bag End, even though I didn’t need all of them. There were thirteen spare bedrooms in that smial, all but one hobbit sized though. If you don’t mind curling up on a bed that’s too short for you, you are welcome to use them. The large bedroom is the one I use. You’ll see all of my stuff in there. Other than that, make yourself at home. I’m going to go and see that my girls are settled.” Bilbo yawned and rubbed a hand across his eyes before heading back down the hall, Aragorn and the Rangers following him.

“Glorfindel? Are you okay?” Elrond asked his friend quietly.

Glorfindel huffed out a laugh. “I will be. I will be. Have you seen the things he’s made here? So casual about it, too.”

Elrond found himself grinning and nodded. “I have. He read about it and got the idea to do it.” Shaking his head, he walked into the hobbit’s rooms, looking around. It was easy to find the hall with all the spare bedrooms in it. The hobbit sized beds looked quite comfortable, each had a set of bedding in the chests at the end of the bed and every room had its own lantern.

Investigation showed them that each room had a bathroom also. The toilet was carved with runes, which made both Elrond and Glorfindel laugh. At his sons’ looks, he explained. “Bilbo has made each toilet a self cleaning toilet using magic. Closing the lid completes the circle and then you activate the rune to power it. The toilet vanishes the sewage inside it.”

“A working sewage system using magic. How does the bath work then?” Elrohir asked as he looked at the tub.

Glorfindel read the runes carefully. “It appears as though the water is transported here from somewhere else and when used, it’s sent back. I can’t believe he got all of this from reading books!”

“I can’t either as the water comes out already heated if you use the water tap that says ‘hot’.” Elrond shook his head. “All of these ideas. The city we can build here could be amazing with work. All of the Elves and Rangers can use magic.”

“Well, let’s divide up and leave half of the rooms for the Rangers to use also. Elladan, Elrohir, show your brother how to use all of this, so that his people know what to do.”

“Of course, Father.” They vanished out the door, probably to head down to the pony hall while everyone else split up, claiming rooms. Two of his people had volunteered to use the hobbit sized kitchen to make up some dinner for everyone.

By the time Bilbo and the Rangers got back, it was to find a happy bunch of Elves sitting around the living room reading or chatting, while something that smelled wonderful was cooking in the kitchen.

“My goodness! You all have been busy.” Bilbo exclaimed in surprise, as he noticed that all of the Elves sitting here still had damp hair.

“We have indeed! Your facilities are well done, Bilbo. It is nice to get the comforts of home.” Elrond was sitting in the one Man sized chair Bilbo owned, reading one of the many books he had sitting around.

“I’ll say. I’m off to get cleaned up myself.”

“Aragorn!” The Ranger turned to find his foster brothers waving to him from the hall. “Everyone, come this way. We’ll walk you through how all of Bilbo’s things work.”

A bit confused, the Rangers all followed while Bilbo vanished into his room. Glorfindel leaned back against Elrond’s legs, flipping idly through the history he’d found. “After seeing the garden in there, I don’t think that we will have a hard time living here, Elrond. We can create the spaces we love in here as well as outside.”

Elrond ran a hand across the shining golden head next to him. “I’m sitting here, almost blissed out on the magic that permeates the very walls of Bilbo’s home and pondering how, now that the main gates are closed, I finally feel secure for the first time in a long, long time.” Elrond sighed.

“Now, I just have to figure out how to get my people here. They will be much closer to the Gray Havens here also, so any who still wish to leave will have a much shorter trip. But the rest of us, those who wish to stay, will finally have a chance to recover.”

“Aye. I think we’ll have to ask Bilbo if he’ll fly over as a guard for us. After the orc attack, I’m not so sure I want them traveling without heavy protection.”

“That’s a very good idea, Glorfindel. We’ll need to make some plans.” Elrond said quietly.

 

Life fell into a bit of a routine for Bilbo for the next few months. He flew endless trips from Rivendell to his home, carrying the Elves that were not soldiers. He hauled most of Lord Elrond’s carefully packed library and a good portion of their healing supplies. The Elves had told him that Rivendell would become a military outpost for them.

Once the move was complete, Elrond would recast the wards over a much smaller area, with Bilbo’s help. He also had more medical exams done than he cared to think about. After every single trip, the amount of weight he carried and the distance was recorded in a log the Healers kept, along with his vitals. They told him that they wanted to know how all of this affected him, so that they could make sure they kept him healthy. 

Any way he looked at it, the caravan below him would be the last part of the move. The remaining Elves and all their belongings were traveling in one big train of wagons and horses. Bilbo was carrying Glorfindel and circling endlessly, trying to keep watch over all the surrounding terrain. None of them wanted to be surprised by the orcs again.

“Bilbo! Look, off to the west. It looks like there might be travelers in trouble.” Glorfindel called out. He unstrapped his bow and released the clip holding his quiver cover in place as Bilbo banked and spotted what he’d seen. It did indeed look as though a couple of travelers were pinned against a stone outcropping. 

The orcs were riding wargs and Bilbo smiled at the thought of getting to take some out. He’d been chased by those things more than he cared to admit.

“Alright Bilbo. Low pass from north to south. Try and stay at least 50 feet up and go as slow as you can safely.”

Bilbo stretched his wings wide and slowed as he descended. Glorfindel and he were almost on top of them before either group realized they were coming. The wargs suddenly shrieked in fear at the sight and scent of the dragon and bolted, but Glorfindel was a fabulous shot. Only two wargs made it away and Bilbo picked up the pace slightly to get him back in range. The Elf Lord downed them with one shot each.

A few hard strokes of his wings brought him up a bit and he turned back, finding that the travelers were finishing up with the orcs already. Both of them were apparently archers.

“Set down, Bilbo and let’s make sure they’re alright.”

A bit unsure, Bilbo hovered for a moment before finally setting down in the clearing. Glorfindel waved at them and the two came out of their stone niche they’d sheltered in. Bilbo immediately noticed that the flame red haired Elf looked familiar, but it was the dwarf that caught him.

“KILI?!” Bilbo all but shrieked at the sight of one of the dwarrow he’d quested with. “What in the world are you doing out here? Why aren’t you in Erebor with your brother?”

The dwarf’s jaw had fallen open as he gaped at the talking dragon. There was no way that he’d just heard a dragon talk with the polite tones of the Company’s ex-burglar.

“Answer me, young dwarf! It’s not safe out here for just the two of you! You should be with your family!”

“B-Bilbo Baggins?” Kili finally said faintly. “Why is a dragon talking like Mister Baggins…?”

Bilbo lowered his head almost to the ground to get a better look at him. “Because I AM Bilbo Baggins!” He huffed. “Where are the two of you going anyway? We need to get back in the air soon and if I can, I’ll drop you off somewhere.”

Kili suddenly paled and looked at the ground before shrugging. “It’s a long story Mister Baggins. Probably at least as long as the one you must have as to why you’re a dragon. Tauriel and I aren’t heading anywhere in particular. We’re just wandering.”

His Elf laid her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. Bilbo turned to look back at Glorfindel. “Do we still have space for the two of them? They’re coming back with me.”

Glofindel laughed and patted Bilbo’s shoulder. “It is good to meet friends of Bilbo’s. Do either of you have mounts or anything else to bring?”

“We’ve got packs.”

“Bring them. We’ll load them on Bilbo and get the two of you tied on. We’re doing overflights of the caravan, so it will be a long day in the air.”

Glorfindel swung down and took the packs they handed him, carefully strapping them onto Bilbo. When he finished, he set Kili up behind him and Tauriel behind Kili and strapped the both of them into the harness. 

“You must stay strapped in at all times while we’re in the air. You are welcome to strap your bow onto the harness. We might run across more orcs or wargs later and the both of you being archers could be useful.” Glorfindel jumped up and quickly tied himself back in.

“Whenever you’re ready, Bilbo.” He turned slightly. “Brace yourself. The first jump off the ground is hard.” 

Bilbo watched and once assured they were secure, launched himself back into the air. He gained speed and climbed rapidly once they were back in the air, swinging around once more to track back in on the caravan.

“Fly over low Bilbo so that I can let the guards know that all is well.”

“Will do.” He altered his flight and descended into a low, slow glide. At a hundred feet out, Glorfindel started signing and the Guards changed flags back to green, as he cleared the wagons, Bilbo climbed once more until they were a couple of hundred feet up, circling the length of the caravan endlessly.

Glorfindel dug through his saddlebags and pulled out a set of glasses for each of them. He turned and explained quickly how to put them on. Tauriel helped Kili adjust his set to get a better fit. What followed was a long, slow day of circling as they paced the caravan of the Elves. They’d only just passed Bree yesterday, so they were still a couple of weeks out from being home.

As night fell, the caravan circled and made camp. Bilbo landed outside of the circle and Glorfindel unstrapped and jumped off. He gestured to the others. “Come on. We need to get the gear off of Bilbo and let him get something to eat. We’ll resume the overflights in the morning.”

Several other Elves had come out also and helped Glorfindel get the harness off of Bilbo. Finally free, Bilbo changed back to hobbit form before running over and embracing Kili fiercely.

“Oh Yavanna, but it is good to see you! I have missed all of you something fierce I have!” He stepped back and patted Kili’s cheek fondly before bowing to Tauriel.

“Captain Tauriel! It is a pleasure to meet you again. I would like to thank you for looking out for this one.” Bilbo leaned over and punched Kili gently on the arm. “Great shot, but loves to rush in first, doesn’t he?”

Tauriel actually laughed at his comments, while Kili blushed fiercely. Bilbo just shook his head. “Come on. Let’s go find some dinner and we can trade stories.” Bilbo grabbed Kili’s arm and started towing him towards the fires. He looked back over his shoulder. “Lord Glorfindel? Are you coming to dinner also? You might want to hear their story. Tauriel used to be the Captain of the Guards for ol’ grump face Thranduil.”

“Truly?” Glorfindel raised an eyebrow and bowed towards her. “A pleasure, Lady Tauriel. At your service, Master Kili. The two of you must be hungry, as Bilbo has told us many times that dwarrow eat as much as hobbits.”

Bilbo huffed while Kili suddenly smirked. “I don’t know about that. I’ve seen Bilbo eat you know! I think he’s bottomless.”

“Not a word more, Kili! I do have many, many stories of you that I learned on the quest. Remember? Perhaps your Lady would like to learn of some of them?” Bilbo was shut up by Kili’s hand over his mouth as he turned to Tauriel and smiled winningly. 

“I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.” 

Glorfindel had made it to Bilbo’s side by then and carefully sent the hobbit forward once more. “Keep moving. You need to eat, Bilbo. Your friends are coming along with you, so don’t worry.” The Elf Lord gently managed the hobbit who was talking nearly non-stop in his excitement at seeing a familiar face.

They finally settled down near the perimeter of the camp, with dinner in hand. Bilbo could see the worry in both of their faces as they slowly ate. He spent a half hour and told them a greatly abbreviated version of his own tale, to both of their wide-eyed disbelief.

“If I hadn’t of seen it Bilbo… Well, I don’t know that I would have. I think you carrying us along today has pretty much suspended my disbelief though.” Kili’s voice was wry.

“I think it is amazing, Master Baggins. I never thought I would be able to fly. It was truly a wonderful experience.” Tauriel told him, as she leaned into Kili’s side. He just smiled at the two of them fondly.

“It’s your turn now. I want to hear why the two of you are out here wandering, alone. It’s quite dangerous anymore, although Lords Glorfindel and Elrond have some plans for that.”

Kili and Tauriel traded looks before Kili started to tell their tale. Basically, the dwarrow of Erebor were not willing to have an heir of the Line of Durin with a spouse who was an Elf. Bilbo was steaming mad by the time they’d finished their whole sad tale.

“Well, that does it. Tauriel wound up banished from her home for daring to help and you wound up banished for daring to love someone who wasn’t a dwarf.” Bilbo stood up and pulled the both of them into a hug. “You two are coming home with me. I might not be wealthy anymore, but it’s secure and there’s plenty to eat.”

“Indeed.” Glorfindel drifted silently into sight. “I would like to see your skills when we get home, Lady Tauriel. I could always use another skilled leader. Many of our people have chosen to leave for Valinor rather than stay and fight. Your skills will be welcomed.”

Tauriel shot to her feet, blushing at his words as she bowed deeply. “It would be an honor, my Lord. Are you sure there won’t be a conflict though with my being a Silvan Elf?”

Glorfindel laughed. “If there is one thing we have learned in the past few years, Lady Tauriel is tolerance. The Elves of Lothlorien will be making their way here come spring. The Rangers of the North are also sharing the city with us. We’re all in an old dwarrow city and sharing space with a hobbit that can turn into a dragon. I don’t see any issue with you being a Silvan Elf.”

Tauriel was smiling brightly as she sat back down, a bit dazed. Kili hugged her tightly. Bilbo smiled at the picture they made. “Don’t worry, Kili. I’ve already got something in mind for you to do. I just have to see if I can get it worked out.”

“Really?” Kili asked hopefully. “That would be wonderful, Bilbo.”

“Don’t get excited yet. I’ve still got a bit to figure out on it, but I think… maybe.” Bilbo nodded only to squeak as Glorfindel swept him up and started to carry him off. 

“You two, please follow me. I’ve got to get Bilbo off to bed, as he needs his rest for tomorrow, but there’s plenty of room for the two of you to bunk in the tent also.”

It wasn’t long before Kili and Tauriel were wrapped in their bedrolls, safe in the Elf camp, while Bilbo slept hard, draped over the Elf Lord Glorfindel. 

 

Elrond looked up from Bilbo’s notes. “This is incredibly detailed, Bilbo. Just from reading this, I would think it would work.” He suddenly laughed. “In fact, I’m thinking that we should try to get Kili to change and see if it will take. If you’re correct and the magic responds to those you think of as family… Well, everyone knows how much you care for the two of them.”

Still smiling, he stood up. “Shall we find him and a good place for him to try and shift? There are still plenty of empty caverns that we haven’t touched yet. If dwarf magic responds to stone, that might be for the best.”

Elrond laid his hand on Bilbo’s shoulder and they walked out into the hall. He sent a runner off for Kili and the two of them headed down for the pony hall. It was just past there that the empty halls were located.

“I can’t believe all of the things everyone has managed to get done. It doesn’t look like the same old place anymore.” Bilbo said quietly as they walked along.

Elrond wrapped his arm around Bilbo’s shoulders and pulled him into his side. “Everyone is so excited to be able to use magic once more that it’s often quite hard to get them to stop.”

They stopped at the entrance to the first empty hall they came to and walked inside. Elrond lit the lantern and raised it. “Well, it looks big enough to hold you and another your size. Do you think it will work?”

Bilbo sighed and finally shrugged. “I’ll ask Kili how well the Stone sings here. That’s probably the best indicator.”

Both turned when they heard the pounding of feet out in the hall and soon a panting dwarf burst into their hall. He was a bit red faced, but smiling brightly.

“Hey Bilbo! He said you needed to see me right away. What do you need?” Kili asked him, looking around at the dark empty stone hall.

“Well, first… Could you tell me how well the Stone sings here? Is it loud and strong or are there better spots around?”

“The Stone?” Kili looked confused for a second before smiling brightly. “It’s loud everywhere in the city Bilbo. This mountain is overjoyed to have everyone here again. She sings loud all the time and every time you change to dragon, she’s loud enough to be deafening!”

“Good.” Bilbo scrunched his face up as he thought about it. “Well, I’ll just come out and say it. Kili, I know that you and Tauriel have sworn to Lord Elrond.”

Kili nodded, still a bit lost.

“I also consider the two of you as part of my family.”

Kili’s bright smile was back again and he nodded. “You are family to us too, Bilbo!”

Bilbo patted his chest. “I’ve been studying the magic that Smaug changed in me for several years now. I’ve let Lord Elrond read over my conclusions and all my notes. He’s in agreement with it.”

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Kili asked, starting to get concerned.

“Oh, no!” Bilbo waved his hands frantically. “Not at all. I’m trying to say that my magic considers you as family. Smaug’s magic seems to only allow me to affect others if I consider them ‘family’. I can’t seem to dodge the requirement, as I can tell the magic doesn’t even start to respond.”

Kili’s eyes were wide as he looked between Elrond and Bilbo. “What are you trying to say?”

Bilbo sighed heavily. “I’m trying to say that I think my magic will recognize you as family. I could possibly make you a dragon changer.”

Kili’s jaw fell open as he stared at Bilbo before closing his mouth with a ‘click’. His face set into serious lines. “What do I need to do?”

Bilbo looked over at Elrond and shrugged. “I told you.”

Elrond nodded in agreement.

“We think it would be best for you to call up your magic first.”

Kili frowned but did as they asked. Bilbo waved a hand at him. “No, Kili. You were obviously taught as hobbits are. Don’t keep hold of it, call it up and let it flow through you, wide open.”

Elrond suddenly sucked in a breath as the hall was flooded with magic again. 

“Oh, but that seems pretty rude, doesn’t it?” Kili said to Bilbo. “We’re taught that one should never let their magic be flaunted.”

“Yeah, Kili. Hobbits, too. I think that it’s part of the reason that all the free magic the elves need to live has vanished.”

Bilbo walked to the far end of the hall in the darkness and changed into dragon. That end of the hall was now lit by Bilbo’s glowing golden radiance. The dragon shuddered.

“Lord Elrond, could you perhaps help me maintain control? The magic is struggling to slip from my grasp and I don’t want to hurt him.”

Elrond hurried down to Bilbo and placed his hand on Bilbo’s head, suddenly glowing as brightly as a torch in the same soft golden shade as Bilbo.

The hobbit dragon opened his eyes. “Kili, my magic wants to… wrap… you in it. I can feel it. It shouldn’t be painful, but that’s what it wants. Are you willing?”

“Of course, Bilbo. Go ahead.” Kili stood there bravely before Bilbo and once more the hobbit was struck by how much he adored the young dwarf. Bilbo loosened his tight grasp on the magic and it swirled out immediately, wrapping Kili gently in its coils. Kili shuddered, but didn’t complain. In less than a minute, the magic was complete and Bilbo was able to pull it back into himself.

Kili though, he was shining. His hair was shifting shade into the shining silver of polished steel. They watched Kili as he laid his hand on his chest and his face twisted up.

“Are you okay? Are you in pain?” Bilbo said worriedly.

“No…” Kili finally said. “I’m hot…”

That’s when Bilbo suddenly knew it had worked. “Kili! I want you to start thinking over and over again that you are a DRAGON! Do it, lad!”

Kili nodded, standing there surrounded by his swirling magic, when suddenly… the magic cloud shifted into the same silver color as his hair and the other end of the hall was enveloped in a cloud. When it cleared, where there had once been a dwarf, there now stood a dragon.

Bilbo was lithe and wickedly fast in the air. Kili was built along heavier, stronger lines. His whole body structure screamed strength. He was covered with silver scales that shone like the best of chain mail, gleaming in the darkness. His eyes were now the same shade of silver and he had a row of spikes down the entire length of his tail.

“Kili! You’re gorgeous! Look at you!” Bilbo cheered, but carefully didn’t move as Elrond was still standing right next to his head.

“Can you move your wings at all?” Bilbo asked as they watched the dwarf looking himself over.

“I… Maybe?” Kili’s face scrunched up and his wings finally shivered a bit before flopping limply. “Oh! That’s hard!”

Bilbo nodded slightly. “It was for me, too. I’d never had wings before and had to use them like any other limb. It took me a couple of months to be able to manage short hops.”

Elrond walked forward slowly and raised his hand. Kili immediately lowered his head to touch Elrond’s hand with his muzzle.

“My Lord… Thank you very much for your help with this.”

Elrond ran a hand over the different facial structure of the dwarf dragon as he checked him over. “The Healers and I have been planning out a program to help others learn to control a dragon body. It’s been our hope that Bilbo could create others.”

“Oooo! You already have a plan! That would be great. Maybe Kili could learn how to do it a lot faster than I did!” Bilbo had walked up to Kili now and was checking him over. “We need to show Tauriel!”

“There’s no need.” Glorfindel walked into the hall, with Tauriel in tow. “We’ve been waiting just outside. We both wanted to watch the process.”

Tauriel was positively *beaming* at Kili. “You look absolutely gorgeous, my love! I am so proud of you!” Kili turned his head to touch his Elf gently.

“Look! I’m finally taller than you are!” Kili crowed and all of them laughed at that.

“Kili, see if you can get your wings tucked in. It will be easier to walk that way and less chance of stepping on them.” Bilbo told him.

Kili struggled with the wings for a couple of minutes. “All I seem to be able to do is make them flop around, Bilbo.”

Bilbo bowed his head towards the wing. “May I?” He asked before grabbing the wing near the joint and helping it to flex and fold in towards Kili’s body. Once he had it almost in place, Kili jumped slightly as his wing snapped tight against him.

“Yes! It worked!”

Bilbo wound up having to help him fold the other wing into place but then, they left the cavern. Elrond and Glorfindel jumped up onto Bilbo while Tauriel jumped onto Kili. His walking was pretty unsure, but he was moving as they made it out to the courtyard and found what appeared to be the entire Healers Hall waiting on Kili.

Elrond gave everyone a firm warning about jumping onto Kili. With that, they turned the young dwarf dragon over to the Healers as Bilbo stretched out. “I don’t know about you, but I could use some dinner right about now.”

The two Elves slid off of him and Bilbo shifted back to hobbit. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m off!”

He didn’t make it three steps before he was swept up by Glorfindel. “Oh, no. You just performed some significant magic, Bilbo. You’ll be eating and staying with Elrond and I while we make sure you’re okay.”

Kili looked over at Tauriel and winked as he saw Bilbo being carried off. She just smiled and slapped his shoulder, as she stayed with him.

 

Bilbo was on his knees, working in his garden. Today was an ‘off’ day for him. He didn’t need to ferry Glorfindel or Elrond anywhere and Kili and Tauriel were off letting him practice short, gliding flights. Kili had done well, in his opinion. It was four months since he’d changed and he could control his legs and his wings well. He was just discovering that he had to build up muscle in his wings from scratch. That took time.

He stood up, straightening his back out and walked to his tomatoes when it hit him. Bilbo doubled over, his hands going to his knees as fear overwhelmed him. He was running before he even knew what he was doing. He didn’t stop until he ran into a wall of Elf which simply picked him up and ran with him to the courtyard. They were met by a group with Bilbo’s harness and Elrond.

“What is it, Bilbo? We feel your fear.”

Bilbo changed into dragon and let the Elves strap on his harness. He was shaking with the need to go. “It’s Kili! He’s seen something that’s scared him badly and he doesn’t frighten easily. Let’s go!” He urged.

Elrond finished strapping on his armor and checking his bow and quiver. Glorfindel was already on Bilbo and strapping quivers down. Elrond jumped up behind him and the two of them tied themselves down.

“Open the gates and then close them immediately!” Elrond ordered as Bilbo swung around and put his nose at the gate. As soon as the gap was wide enough, he slithered between the doors and sprang into the air. He turned and headed north, where he could feel Kili was located.

“How far?” Glorfindel asked him as Elrond and he strapped on their glasses.

“Less than 10 minutes if I hurry.” Bilbo called back and accelerated. The wind was screaming around them as Glorfindel and Elrond crouched down to try to avoid some of it. That’s when they felt a glimmer of magic crawl across Bilbo and suddenly the wind was almost gone.

“What in Eru’s name did you just do, Bilbo?” Elrond called out.

“Just a bit of magic I’ve been working on. The wind speed is too much for archers when I’m pushing it.” Bilbo yelled back.

Bilbo banked around another mountain, when Glorfindel spotted them. “There Bilbo! It’s the winged lizards again, the Nazgul!”

Elrond and Glorfindel readied their bows as Bilbo never checked up, slicing through the air straight at them. They could all see that Kili was trapped on the ground down there, but he was able to tear up anything that got close. Tauriel had her bow and was dropping any orc that was stupid enough to get close.

“I’ve got 10 of them in the air. Is that what you count?” Glorfindel asked Elrond.

“Aye. Here we go!” He answered. He felt Bilbo gather himself beneath him and then fold his wings into a dive. Thankful for the magic Bilbo had put up, it was easy for Glorfindel and him to start shooting. They had almost 10 seconds in that dive as Bilbo had been so high and between the two of them, they’d managed to drop 4 of the 10 just on the first pass. Bilbo pulled out above the clearing where Kili was, and accelerated hard before suddenly climbing almost straight up. 

Wings stretched out to their full extent, he was glowing in the sun, sparkling brilliantly like a polished coin. He kept on going, rolling over in a perfect circle to dive directly at a pair of them. Elrond and Glorfindel started shooting as soon as they were in range. They dropped one of them, but the other was only wounded. It fell to the ground below them and Kili roared, pouncing on it.

The dwarf dragon made short work of that Nazgul, but Bilbo wasn’t paying them any mind. With four more left in the air, he chose one as their next target and pushed himself. He had to weave and dodge around the others that were getting in his way. Elrond and Glorfindel shooting anytime something got close enough, but Bilbo knew he had to get them into range and with enough time to shoot.

With that, he climbed above his target before diving once more. The Nazgul banked hard to try and avoid him, but Bilbo was better than anything else in the sky. His graceful twist and roll and both of his Elves were firing at once. The Nazgul screamed and fell out of the sky. Bilbo continued his roll and returned to upright position, accelerating again.

He was getting hot now. Close quarters always did it to him. Three left to go… Bilbo saw one, but not the other two. “Where are they? I’ve lost them!”

“Above us!” Glorfindel yelled. Bilbo tilted his head, catching a glimpse of the Nazgul dropping right at him like a stone. Without thinking, Bilbo folded his wings and dove. He needed enough speed that when they collided, it wouldn’t be enough to hurt the Elves. He rolled once more, right before the Nazgul plowed into him. Instead of ripping open his back and his Elves, it was greeted with clawed feet and a mouthful of teeth. For a precious few seconds, the two of them tore at each other, the Nazgul getting lucky and catching Bilbo’s wing, ripping it wide open.

The hobbit yelled, which came out as a roar in his dragon form, and pulled the dying Nazgul closer before rolling them and kicking off. The Nazgul was driven into the ground, while the hobbit dragon struggled for altitude with a damaged wing. On his back, he felt Elrond heat up with magic usage and suddenly, his wing felt better. He stretched it out and pushed up into the air harder and when it didn’t give, climbed hard.

The two remaining Nazgul decided that discretion was the better part of valor and turned, fleeing back into the north. Bilbo pushed it hard, his wing was sore, he felt like he was having a melt down, but they couldn’t let those things get away.

“Almost there, Bilbo!” Glorfindel called out. The Elf Lord could hear Elrond still working his magic to keep Bilbo patched up. The hobbit dragon never faltered though and swept around one of the two remaining Nazgul, giving Glorfindel a clear shot. It took three arrows to get the damned thing down, but Bilbo had provided him with a good clear shot.

It fell from the sky and Bilbo stretched his wings wide, making a huge, sweeping turn at high speed. Glorfindel could do nothing but watch as the ground flashed by beneath them in a blur. A lightly laden Bilbo was the fastest thing he’d ever even heard of. He couldn’t imagine how fast they were going.

“Where is it?” Bilbo called out, head sweeping from side to side. “I’m not seeing the last one!”

Beneath them, Kili stood up on his back legs, roaring out to Bilbo. “He went through there Bilbo! That way!”

Bilbo banked once more, turning sharply into the mountain valley. He started climbing harder, a bit worried about an ambush. His worries turned out to be correct, as they weren’t even four minutes down the valley, when the last Nazgul dove at them from above. Bilbo folded his wings and twisted sideways, the Nazgul flashing by them cleanly. 

He powered into another climb before turning sharply on a wingtip. The Nazgul had turned and was heading back towards where Kili and Tauriel were. No way was he going to let that thing near his family. Bilbo hissed in rage and put on one last explosive burst of speed. They caught the Nazgul right at the entrance to the valley. He simply landed on it from above, shredding its wings and snapping its neck.

He let it drop, already hearing Elrond and Glorfindel telling him to set down by the lake. Finally becoming aware of just how hard he was panting, Bilbo slowed his wingbeats and descended, heading directly for the small lake they were by. As he settled onto the ground, Kili, Tauriel and a crowd of Rangers, Elves and hobbits came running over.

Elrond jumped off. “Spread out the wing, Bilbo. I need to look it over.”

Tired, Bilbo did as he asked, lowering it enough that Elrond could see it easily. The Elf started more healing magic on it, while Glorfindel jumped down and started a slow walk around Bilbo. The hobbit dragon did as they asked. Lifting wings, legs, tail, whatever. They seemed satisfied after that, and called out to the Rangers and the Elves to get them to help inspect the harness.

Elrond stopped by Bilbo’s head, laying his hand on the golden face once more. “Both Glorfindel and I are worried that the harness might be damaged. Those high speed turns, with the leather rubbing against your scales… Well, we didn’t know what to expect when it came to building a harness that would hold up in a fight or even high speed flying. They’re going to take it, look it over and make repairs if needed so that we can get back home.” 

Bilbo felt someone nudge him and turned to find Kili standing next to him. His eyes were huge, even for his dragon form. “Bilbo… That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything go so fast in my life! You were flying circles around them.” Kili shook his silver scaled head. “Tauriel and I have so much to learn!”

“We all do, young Kili. Even today, we learned more yet. The first thing I want to do is make sure that anyone flying as a dragon has a Healer good enough to repair on the fly. If Bilbo had lost that wing, we’d have a very different outcome to this battle.” Elrond said thoughtfully.

Glorfindel strode up behind Elrond and held out a section of the chest harness. They all could see that it was heavily scored and one section was almost cut in half. “We’ve got a lot to learn. The harness is going to have to be remade a lot, lot stronger and yet still be light enough not to be a drag on the dragon. We also need to start working on tactics. A whole division of military use needs to be devoted to developing and maintaining aerial combat tactics.”

Elrond patted Bilbo again. “We also need you to start teaching classes on how you’re doing these things like the magic you did to keep the wind from blowing us off. Those things are what we’ve got to get practiced, written down and people trained up to teach.”

“Bilbo, the harness is all the way off. Take a swim and cool off.”

“Thank Yavanna!” The hobbit dragon carefully threaded his way through the people and sank into the water, steam rising from him as he vanished under water.

“He-he’s steaming!” Kili called out, alarmed.

“It’s alright, Kili. Bilbo’s magic usage is terribly high when he’s in aerial combat. It leads to a lot of heat build up. For now, we let him dunk himself in a river or pond to cool off, but the Healers and I are working on developing a method to cool him off magically. We can’t afford to let him stop in the middle of a battle and take a swim. It’s yet another thing that you will have to watch out for Tauriel.”

“Yes, my Lord Elrond.” Tauriel said respectfully as she pulled out a notebook and added all of the things she’d just learned to her notes.

When Bilbo finally surfaced, he found his Uncle Hildifons standing on the shore, watching him.

“Hello, Uncle.” He said a bit warily.

“Hello, nephew.” His Uncle answered as he continued to inspect Bilbo’s dragon form. “Now, I’m family to you nephew and I don’t have a wife and faunts to tie me down. Where do I need to sign up?”

“What?” Bilbo’s head rose out of the water as he waded closer to his Uncle. “You want to do this?”

Hildifons put his hands on his hips and looked at his nephew sternly. “Today I had to watch as my nephew went out and kicked some lizard ass, while all I could do was watch from the sidelines. That’s no way for an Uncle to look out for his nephew. We’re family, Bilbo. I’m in.” He gestured back in the direction of Tuckborough. “I’m sure there’s a good dozen of your cousins willing to do it also. I wouldn’t take anyone with faunts though.”

“Uncle!” Bilbo’s voice was part astonished, and part delighted. He lowered his head down next to Hildifons and said as quietly as he could. “You have to swear fealty to Lord Elrond though. I’ll not change any family members that won’t. There’s got to be somebody who can control a bunch of hobbit dragons and a dwarf dragon in charge.”

“Bilbo…” Elrond tried to cut in, but Bilbo was firm and shook his giant dragon head.

“No. I’m standing firm on this one, Lord Elrond.”

Hildifons was nodding though. “You’re right nephew. Besides, a bunch of Took hobbit dragons is going to need a firm hand to guide them. Way too willing to charge in head first.”

“Really?” Glorfindel raised an eyebrow. “That’s actually good to know. Building a team that can keep each dragon in top shape and performing will depend a lot on personalities.”

“We’ve got the harness patched back up, Bilbo. It will last until we get back home.” Glorfindel added. “Have you cooled off yet?”

“Oh, of course.” Bilbo stood up and water sheeted off of him, leaving him gleaming once more. Elrond, Glorfindel and several of the Elves carefully draped the harness over him again and strapped it back on. Elrond stopped to talk quietly to Hildifons who was nodding rapidly. They both seemed satisfied and jumped up on Bilbo, strapping themselves in.

“Oh! Uncle Hildifons?”

“What is it, Bilbo?”

“Do you have any books on adoption rituals for the Took clan or even someone who knows the old rituals?”

His Uncle nodded. “I’ll have to ask back at the Smials, but if there is one, I’ll bring it when I come up next week, okay?”

“You’re coming up next week?” Bilbo’s asked, delighted.

“I am. Lord Elrond said he’d be arranging quarters for those of us coming.”

“That’s wonderful, Uncle!” Bilbo turned to Kili. “Are you ready to go? Did you get checked out? I know I smelled troll when I was up there.”

Kili nodded. “Tauriel and the others checked me out. None of the trolls did any damage to me. Once everyone gets saddled back up, I’ll be flying with them back to the Shire. We’ll leave from Tuckborough to get back home. We should be there by this evening.”

Bilbo bumped Kili affectionately with his head. “Be careful. You scared some years off of my life today. I didn’t know if we’d get here in time.”

“You felt that?”

“I did. That’s something that will take some getting used to, let me tell you!”

“I’m sorry, Bilbo.” Kili hung his head a bit.

“What for? You needed backup and we came. It worked out.” Bilbo stepped backwards, and waited for the signal to go from his Elves. Once he got it, he launched at a much more moderate pace. They flew a few slow circles until they were sure that everyone was well underway before Bilbo banked and headed back home. He was tired.

 

Bilbo groaned, awareness slowly coming back to him. He felt a hand rubbing his back gently and struggled to raise his head.

“Who…?” He asked hoarsely.

“It’s me.” Glorfindel said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

“Terrible. What happened to us?”

Glorfindel sighed. “What do you remember?”

Bilbo squinted his eyes, trying to get his vision to clear up. “Well, I remember that we were doing overflights of the caravan from Lothlorien. We were about halfway through the Gap of Rohan, when we saw… something? I don’t know much after that, I’m afraid.” Bilbo answered.

“As best I can tell, we were hit by someone using Necromancy from the feel of it. The magic was heavy with the taint of death anyway. I’m guessing that you somehow managed to land us, as I went out also. When I woke up, we were already here in this cell.” Glorfindel nodded towards the front. “There is a serious amount of magic in this place that has apparently blocked your connection to the Earth Song.”

Bilbo suddenly jerked upright, eyes widening before having to slap a hand to his head. “Oh, that hurts…”

“You shouldn’t move so fast, Bilbo. Not yet.”

Bilbo’s face crumpled as he reached within for his connection to the Song and found nothing. His eyes were desperate as he looked at Glorfindel. “Without the Song, I can’t change.”

“I know.”

Bilbo studied his Elf, grateful that Lord Elrond was not here also. “You’re hurt pretty badly aren’t you?”

Glorfindel sighed. “I won’t die from these injuries, but it is unpleasant.”

“How did this happen? Was it orcs or Men?”

Glorfindel managed to wrench out a laugh. “I know now we were too hopeful. When the Ring was destroyed, we all thought that Mordor would fall apart from within. Instead, it appears as though several Men who are Necromancers have taken over, along with some of the Gundabad orcs. There is still an army of orcs in this place.”

“Did they torture you?”

“No.” Glorfindel shook his head. “I attacked the orcs when they first brought water. I was hoping I could slip the two of us out of here and into the mountains.”

“We’re back in Mordor then, aren’t we?”

“As best I can tell, yes.”

The two of them sat in silence for a while longer. The quiet was finally broken by the sound of many, many orcs. They came pouring down the corridor towards their cell. A truly huge, gray skinned Gundabad orc that was covered with scars leered at them through the bars as he pulled out the keys and unlocked the cell. All of the orcs were talking in Black Speech and although Bilbo didn’t understand it, it wasn’t hard to get the gist of their taunts.

“Get up, slaves. Master waiting.” The huge orc said and pointed down the hallway. “You go that way.”

Bilbo and Glorfindel both climbed to their feet. Evidently they weren’t moving fast enough as the orcs came charging in, poking at them with their weapons and closing ranks behind them. They traveled down the hallway and up two flights of stairs before being shoved through a doorway and onto the rooftop.

Bilbo knew he was shaking but he still struggled to be strong and keep up. Glorfindel and he were shoved into the middle of a huge circle carved into the rock itself. They were left there, the orcs running back out of the circle. As soon as the last orc was out of it, it activated and the two of them were surrounded by a glowing ring of energy. Bilbo rubbed his hands on his arms as his skin prickled. This energy around them… It was seriously nasty… 

Glorfindel kept him in tow and they walked the circumference of the circle, looking around.

“Glorfindel… What are those lumps on the ground out there?” Bilbo asked softly, his hand clenched in Glorfindel’s tunic.

“They are Men, Bilbo. Tied up and left lying there. I’m guessing that the Necromancer will use them as fuel for whatever vile act he’s going to do.”

“Vile act…?” A smooth, cultured voice cut in. “I happen to think it is a thing of beauty. The lives of normal Men are so brief after all. I’m giving their brief, meaningless existence a purpose now.”

Before them stood a robed figure, at least the size of a Man. He wore a black, hooded over robe that left his face in shadow.

“Who might you be?” Glorfindel ground out.

“Your new Master.” The robed Man made his way around their circle, writing runes and dripping liquids on certain sections of the floor. As he worked, the air got heavier and heavier.

“What is the point of this?” Bilbo finally burst out.

The Man straightened and laughed. Once more, a lovely, resonant sound. Bilbo shuddered at it, as he’d always thought evil should be ugly.

“The purpose? Why, to have my own personal dragon of course. And the Elf Lord that is trained to work with him and take care of him. You’ll be my Pet and he’ll be my Pet’s Trainer. It will be glorious!”

The Man laughed again and held his hands wide. “Look over there. I’ve already had your harness repaired, dragon. You’ll be learning how to carry your Master properly very, very soon.”

Bilbo and Glorfindel both couldn’t help but glance where he pointed. Sure enough, the harness was there, sitting on a custom made stand. Bilbo backed up into Glorfindel as his mind raced over options.

“So, from what you’re telling us, this magic will remove our free will then. You want puppets.” Glorfindel’s voice was flat with rage. Bilbo had already learned that Glorfindel went cold when he was furious.

“But of course. Beautiful puppets though. I’m rather tired of everyone thinking that people like me should be ugly and revel in ugly things. I think that the two of you will be able to show that I appreciate beauty as well as the next Man.”

He walked back to the front of the terrible circle and started chanting. The harsh, discordant syllables made Bilbo’s ears hurt just listening.

“Bilbo? Do you still have no access to the Earth Song? Glorfindel asked desperately.

Bilbo shook his head and turned, burying his face into Glorfindel’s side. “No. I can’t feel the Earth Song at all.” 

The Man’s voice was getting louder and the magic was pressing even heavier. Glorfindel’s hands were tightening on his shoulders when Bilbo suddenly tilted his head back and looked up at Glorfindel.

“I can’t feel the Earth Song at all, Glorfindel. I can’t.”

“What are you speaking of, Bilbo?” Under his hands, the hobbit was starting to get warm. The first Man had been drug up to the Necromancer and he was drawing his knife.

Bilbo smiled at him and his eyes started to glow. “The others have no problem touching the Earth Song and the Stone Song though. They’re sending it to me.”

A heavy golden fog of magic suddenly surrounded the Elf and hobbit, causing the Necromancer to falter in his chant. When it cleared, there was an 80 foot long, pissed off golden dragon staring him in the face. The Necromancer blanched and turned, bolting for the door as Bilbo struck out at him. The circle of magic popping under his feet like a bubble bursting.

The enraged hobbit dragon turned his fury on the orcs left on the roof with him. Shredded orc parts were flying everywhere, a few of them simply getting knocked off the roof by his tail. Only once the roof was clear did he turn to Glorfindel who was untying the Men and getting them on their feet.

“Are the Men okay? Can they help you put the harness on?” Bilbo said worriedly.

“Aye. They’re pretty beaten up, but willing to help Bilbo. Hold still and let us get this on you.”

Bilbo crouched down, letting them crawl over him without complaint. It felt like it took forever before the last buckle was closed tight and Glorfindel was tying on the Men. He sprang aboard himself then, tying the straps rapidly.

“Go, Bilbo!”

The hobbit dragon launched from the roof of the building, part of it crumbling under the force of his kick off. He climbed hard, ignoring the aching already present. They would have a ways to go to get out of here and he had no time to be tired. Calling up hobbit magic, he enveloped them in it. At least they wouldn’t be visible from the ground.

“This wasn’t Minas Morgul, Glorfindel. Where are we? Am I heading the right way?” Bilbo called out, confused. It was already dark outside and he could see well in the darkness, but he needed to know which direction to go in.

“We were in the old remnants of Barad-Dur itself, Master Dragon.” One of the Men answered him. “Minas Tirith is still due west, but you’ll have to cross nearly the entire width of Mordor to get there.”

Glorfindel cursed under his breath. He could feel how tired Bilbo was and they were just getting started. It didn’t help that Bilbo had a full load of 15 people either. “No fancy acrobatics this time Bilbo. We will do our very best to ignore anything else flying and hopefully we can slip by them in the darkness. Instead, straight and flat flying, as fast as you can. Conserve what energy you can, Bilbo.”

“Will do.” Bilbo rumbled, wings never pausing in their steady beats. They flew in complete darkness for what felt like a long, long time before his straining eyesight was finally able to make out some odd shapes.

“Glorfindel…?” He panted.

“It looks like Minas Morgul, Bilbo.” Glorfindel turned to the Men behind him. “I don’t know how well you can see in this darkness, but call out if you see something. Last time, we were hit with a wing of Nazgul when we were leaving.” 

“Oh, crap!” Bilbo suddenly yelled and banked hard right, deepening the turn until he’d made a tight circle. Something big had just flown by them in the darkness. It was below them now by over a hundred feet.

“Should I dive?”

“No. Much as it pains me, you’d have to recover that altitude. Keep going, Bilbo. As fast as you can.”

“Okay.” 

Glorfindel was terribly worried, as he could feel Bilbo laboring under him. The mountain range was slowly falling behind them as it turned into foothills beneath them. He strained his eyes for any sight of Osgiliath.

“Oh, no! Glorfindel, tell me I’m wrong and there’s not a pack of Nazgul forming up behind us! Tell me!” Bilbo panted out.

Glorfindel turned and looked behind him. If he strained his eyes, he could barely make out the shapes of them in the air. The whole pack was higher than they were too, which left them open to diving attacks.

“Bilbo? How did you call up the magic to change into a dragon earlier?” He asked him urgently.

“The others sent it to me when I asked.”

“So… Are they close then?” 

“Close…?” Bilbo sounded confused. “OH! Just a second…”

They all waited nervously before Bilbo suddenly roared. “Kili! We’re here!”

All of them strained to see anything, but Bilbo’s flagging pace picked up. “They’re ahead of us and higher, Glorfindel. They’re coming fast!”

Glorfindel laid his hands flat on Bilbo’s neck and used his Bond with the hobbit to feel for their presence. He heaved a sigh of relief at the feel of all of them.

“They’ll be passing over us to intercept any minute now. Don’t be alarmed if you see them.” He told the Men.

It was less than a minute before he heard them calling out to Bilbo.

“You’re almost there, Bilbo! We’ve got these guys!” Kili’s voice rang out into the darkness.

“Kili!”

“You’d best get to Osgiliath, Bilbo! Lord Elrond is waiting for the two of you. Less than 10 leagues to go.” Hildifons' polite tones followed Kili’s as he soared past them.

“Uncle Hildifons!” Bilbo called out and steadied his flight, struggling to pick up the pace a bit more. Behind them, came a series of roars and the heavy thuds of bodies colliding. Careful listening revealed the twang of bowstrings and the dragon riders set about dropping everything they could.

Finally, to Bilbo’s tired eyes, he could make out the sight of several bonfires in the distance.

“Glorfindel? Is that it?” He called out and Glorfindel confirmed it.

“It’s Osgiliath, Bilbo! There are our people! Set down next to them.”

Bilbo finally touched down and promptly flopped onto his belly, panting. Glorfindel helped the Men off and once the last one was off, he connected with the Earth Song and was flooded with power.

“Bilbo’s got the right idea, Glorfindel.” Elrond came striding up and threw his arms around Bilbo’s head before turning to Glorfindel. He laid one hand on Bilbo and the other on Glorfindel, calling forth the magic and setting about healing everything he could.

Bilbo was already feeling better and pulled his wings back in as he watched his Elves work. He lifted his head when he realized that the others were coming back. They were all feeling quite pleased with themselves and Bilbo sat up a bit as he waited for all of them to land.

“Bilbo!” Kili crowed as he wound his way carefully through all of the Men and Elves. He came to a stop before him and bumped foreheads gently. “You’ve got to stop scaring me like that!”

“Scaring YOU? I’m the one who was knocked out of the sky and hauled unconscious back into Mordor, AGAIN!” Bilbo said, shaking his head. “Seriously though, I owe you big, all of you.” He said as his Uncle came up to him from the other side.

“That nasty piece of work had some kind of magic set up on a building that kept me from being able to touch the Earth Song. Glorfindel and I would be slaves to him by now if it weren’t for all of you.”

“Slaves…?” Hildifons said worriedly.

“Aye.” Bilbo quietly told his tale to the two of them as Glorfindel filled in Elrond and the others. There were only the dragons’ teams here that he knew. The rest of the Elves were Lothlorien Elves from the caravan. They had diverted to Gondor once Glorfindel and he had vanished, only to be met by the dragons a few days out from Osgiliath.

“We were going to stage a break out, Bilbo. You all just beat us to it, thank goodness.” Hildifons rested his head across his nephew’s shoulders, quietly giving thanks to Yavanna.

“I just hope that Glorfindel and Elrond can figure out what he did and if we can learn to counteract it or not.” Bilbo shuddered. “It was terrible!”

They were interrupted by Elrond as he walked up to Bilbo’s head. “Just stay still for a moment, Bilbo. We’re going to remove your harness and go over it carefully. Once it’s off, change back to hobbit. Glorfindel tells me that neither one of you has had anything to eat or drink in days now.”

Bilbo nodded and stood still, letting them scramble over him and remove the harness. When they finished, he changed back to hobbit gratefully, only to find himself immediately picked up by Elrond. Glorfindel strode alongside as they made their way through the Elvish encampment before stopping at a single tent. 

“This one is ours.” Elrond said quietly. Glorfindel held the tent flap open for them and Bilbo’s eyes widened. 

“You Elves know how to travel in style. This is amazing!” Bilbo took in the tent’s interior. There were a couple of cots tied together to make a larger bed, a rug on the floor and the same magical appliances he had back home. Bilbo sighed happily and wriggled in Elrond’s hold.

“A bed!” He crowed. “Put me down!”

Elrond laughed but carried him over to their portable shower set-up instead. “After you get clean and eat something, Bilbo. Not before. The two of you have already been living on magic for too long.”

The hobbit huffed, but wandered into the shower stall quickly enough as Elrond dug out Bilbo’s pack and set it by him. He had Glorfindel seated in a chair, while checking him over once more. The lovely magic lanterns meant that it didn’t matter that it was still dark outside. There was plenty of light in their tent.

It was much later, when Bilbo was tucked safely between the two of them in bed, that Glorfindel and Elrond finally had the chance to talk.

“In order for our plans to secure our lands to succeed, we’re going to need even more dragon changers.” Glorfindel said quietly. “Do you think Hildifons would be willing to scour the Shire for more volunteers? From what he told us, Bilbo is related to most of the Shire Families. Surely there are more of them that would be willing.”

Elrond sighed as he thought about it. “All we can do is ask, I guess. It takes years to get them flying well and it’s going to take even longer to get them flying good enough for combat.”

“Don’t worry so much…” Bilbo cut into their conversation, yawning. “Kili and I have been talking about it. It wasn’t his family that caused him to leave Erebor. It was the population of dwarrow that couldn’t accept it. Kili thinks his family would accept the change in order to be with him and I’m fond enough of the stone headed bunch to be able to do it.”

Bilbo suddenly smiled. “We’ve even committed to making sure that they all swear fealty to you also, Lord Elrond. Kili and I were going to go to Erebor and see if we could get them once I returned from this trip escorting the Lothlorien Elves.”

“Oh? And when were the two of you going to let us know of this trip?” Glorfindel said archly, raising an eyebrow.

Bilbo grinned at him. “Why, once we came back of course!” He started laughing at the looks on their faces. “No, no! We were going to talk to the two of you about it once I got back from the escort trip, truly. We wouldn’t just take off. Goodness, I don’t even want to get the idea in some of my cousins’ heads that they should be darting off to wherever! That’s a horrible thought.”

“It’s good to hear you say that.” Elrond said dryly. “It is indeed a challenge to get some of them to focus on work.”

Bilbo laughed again. “Well, there is one other that I know of. I’ve got a book in my bag that I’ve been studying at night. It’s the formal adoption ritual for the Took clan. Grandfather is the Head of the Family and he’d have to be the one to do it, but it seems that the magic does indeed make someone a hobbit magically.”

“Excuse me?” Elrond said in astonishment. “Magically a hobbit?”

“Aye. The reason I can’t change Elves or Men is that none of you have a direct connection to the magic itself. The book specifies that if the need is great enough, and I happen to think that the love Aragorn and the Lady Arwen share is a pretty great need, then the Lady will answer. If she does, I can Change Aragorn.”

Elrond flopped gracelessly onto his back, his eyes wide in shock. Glorfindel leaned over Bilbo and laid his hand on Elrond’s chest.

“Are you going to be alright?”

“Alright…” Elrond wheezed, before scrubbing his hand across his eyes. “Alright? If that actually works, then I wouldn’t lose either one of my children.”

Elrond twisted and the other two found themselves being crushed in a hug. “Bilbo Baggins, I truly owe you more than I can repay. May I please see this book?”

Bilbo smiled and nodded, wiggling free and crossing the tent to get his bag. He dug through it and pulled out a rather battered book, which he brought back and handed to Elrond. “It’s a Westron translation, but the actual ceremony is in Hobbitish.”

Elrond clutched the book to his chest and swallowed hard; he swung his legs off the bed and rose. “The two of you both need some serious rest. But for now, I must read this book. I’ll wake you in time for breakfast.”

“Of course, Elrond.” Glorfindel said, smiling fondly at him. He leaned over and scooped Bilbo up from where he’d been standing, tucking him back into bed next to him. “The two of us have to catch up on sleep, so we’ll see you after a while.”

Bilbo was laughing as he found himself smothered in Glorfindel, while Elrond pulled out a chair and moved it over to the lantern, opening the book as he sat down.

 

Kili shifted back and forth nervously as he waited for his family to show up. Bilbo was still in the air and circling high overhead, just waiting to be called down if needed. Tauriel was currently stationed in a tree behind him and his Healer Narvi, the only one of their team they’d decided on yet, was with her.

He’d sent word by raven once they’d left Gondor and arranged this meeting out in the middle of nowhere. He had no interest in being seen by the dwarrow of Erebor. He might have grown up around them, but the hurt they’d caused him ran deep. He was worried enough about his family accepting the way he looked now. 

He could hear the branches cracking and brush rustling ahead of him and perked up, watching anxiously. When the first pony appeared, he waved.

“Uncle?” Kili called nervously.

“Kili?” The deep voice of Thorin Oakenshield rang out. Thorin rode into the clearing he was waiting in, followed by Dwalin, and Balin. Kili’s eyes widened at the sight of his family. The past couple of years had not been kind to any of them from the looks of it. He’d never seen his Uncle look so old. 

“You… Ah, you all look well.” He finally stammered out. Thorin snorted and dismounted, looking him over.

“You weren’t joking about the change either.” Thorin strode up and Kili found himself crushed in his Uncle’s hug. He couldn’t help it; he started sniffling and patted his Uncle on the back.

“No. I definitely wasn’t joking.” Kili pointed to the tent set up at the end of the clearing. “Do you have time to come in and sit down for a bit? I want to tell you all what’s been happening with Tauriel and I.”

Dwalin and Balin both swung off their ponies and Kili found himself crushed between the two of them as they hugged him.

“You look really good, Kili.” Balin said a bit tearfully.

“Aye. It’s makin’ me feel even older just seeing ya.” Dwalin grumbled as he let him go and followed him into the tent.

Kili got all of them seated, explaining the amenities in the tent in case anyone needed them and set out the tea, Bilbo had helped him get ready. He finally settled into a seat at the little table and took a deep breath. “It’s a long story, but really it all started once Tauriel and I had made it all the way back past Bree. We were simply wandering and were ambushed by an orc pack. We were greatly outnumbered and it was looking pretty grim for us, until we were rescued by a dragon.”

“WHAT?!” Burst out of three different throats all at once.

Kili felt his familiar grin stretching his face as he nodded. “That’s right. A most polite dragon he was. He scolded me right proper for wandering the woods with my Lady when I should have been safe in Erebor.”

“By Mahal…” Balin’s eyes had widened in realization.

Kili nodded. “You get it already, don’t you Balin? It seems that Smaug decided that he wouldn’t be forgotten. He pushed his magic into a vessel that would be capable of holding it.”

Thorin suddenly put his hand over his eyes. “Master Baggins.”

“Aye, Uncle. Master Baggins.” Kili rambled on for the next hour, carefully explaining the Change, Bilbo’s story, his and Tauriel’s story and finally their alliance with Elves and why it had happened. By the time he’d stopped, his throat was dry and he had to take a sip of his tea, which had long since gone cold.

“Any questions?” He asked with a grin.

“Aye. I want to see you in dragon form, nephew. Get busy.” Thorin ordered as he rose to his feet and stepped out of the tent. Balin and Dwalin trailed behind Kili who walked past all of them before stopping once he had enough space.

“Do NOT shoot me! Not even by accident!” Kili ordered as he released his magic, becoming surrounded by a fog of magic the color of polished steel. When it cleared, Kili’s enormous dragon self stood before them, gleaming like chain mail. He carefully folded his wings back and out of his way.

“See? It’s true.”

Thorin approached slowly and when Kili lowered his head, carefully laid his hand on his muzzle. After a few seconds, he leaned all the way against him and took a deep breath.

“I believe you. You said that Master Baggins and his Elves are here also? And your Lady Tauriel? Can you bring them all here? I would like to have a few discussions.”

“Of course, Uncle.” Kili raised his head. “Tauriel, love? Could you and Narvi come out?” The two Elves jumped down from the tree and walked over to stand next to him proudly.

Kili shifted back into his dwarf form and gestured for everyone to move back to the tent. “I walked into this clearing as it was really too small for me to land in. I’m not that accurate yet. Bilbo is though. He’s on his way down now and I don’t want us to get in the way.”

“There he is, love.” Tauriel said, pointing out a bright gold dot that was diving down towards them. The tiny golden dot was rapidly getting bigger as Bilbo flew with his usual incredible speed. Kili happened to know that Elrond and Glorfindel both were addicted to his high speed acrobatics. It was one reason why they’d been endlessly remaking his harness to take the strain.

“Oi! He’s coming in too fast!” Dwalin growled out, taking a step backwards.

“Oh, no. For Bilbo, this is tame.” Kili said with a smile as the golden dragon was finally down to treetop level and flared out, backwinging hard and dropped to the ground in one smooth motion. Bilbo folded his wings and walked over, still carrying Lords Elrond and Glorfindel.

“Hello, Kili. It’s actually a good day for flying once you get above some of those pesky clouds.” Bilbo said, stopping next to the group and laying down to let his Elves get off. They jumped off of him gracefully and bowed to the gathered dwarrow, introducing themselves.

Bilbo lowered his head as Thorin, Balin and Dwalin approached him and let them touch his head.

“Hello, members of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. How have things been going for you in Erebor?”

“You are absolutely huge, Master Baggins.” Thorin told him, taking in the gleaming, golden length of him. “It’s rather amazing, considering you’re a hobbit.”

Bilbo sniffed. “Is that a slur against hobbits, I hear? And not even a proper greeting? Just simply drop right off into insults? This is sounding remarkably like how the Quest started.”

Thorin actually had the grace to flush in embarrassment. “Please excuse me. It’s just rather a lot to take in.”

“Tell me about it. I had no one to explain it to me.” Bilbo said, glancing over at Kili meaningfully. He saw Kili look away and almost growled.

None of the dwarrow spoke again and Bilbo sighed. “Look, I’m sure that Kili explained everything to you. The question is rather simple. I can only affect this Change on people I consider family and you hard headed dwarrow are. So? Would you like to come home with Kili and I and learn how to fly?”

“Family, huh?” Dwalin scratched his chin and laid his hand back on Bilbo’s head. “What’s Elrond like anyway? Swearing fealty is a big deal to us.”

“I know. But it’s important that someone is in charge that can control the chaos. Elrond and Glorfindel can do it.” Bilbo rolled his eyes. “Besides, I could use the help as they’re trying to develop aerial combat tactics and maneuvers and I don’t know the first thing about it. I’ve read more books on strategy than I care to think about recently.” 

He heaved another sigh. “I think I’m lacking the military mindset. Glorfindel would probably jump for joy at the three of you.”

“Well, you may not know the terminology Bilbo, but we’re basing a lot of them off of what we’ve seen you do.” Glorfindel added in as he walked up. “You’re still the most maneuverable flyer we’ve got.”

Bilbo snorted in amusement. “I’m maneuverable and Kili is a giant immovable object in the air. I wouldn’t want to try and take him down.”

“That’s right! Dwarrow are built to endure, Bilbo!” Kili crowed and Bilbo rolled his eyes fondly.

“It’s just a good thing that you and Tauriel have Narvi now. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“That’s right!” Kili said proudly before stopping. “Wait! What did you mean by that?”

Bilbo laughed. “For those that don’t know him, Narvi is a Healer and a great one. He was the one they chose to be on Kili’s team.”

“Team…? Why would he need a Healer?” Thorin asked slowly.

“It is part of what we’re working out, Thorin Oakenshield.” Lord Elrond said as he joined them. “Every dragon changer we have has a team to work with them. One of those members is a Healer that can repair damage to the dragon immediately. There are still many, many things to be worked out.”

“There are more dragon changers then?” Balin asked curiously. “We’ve not seen any here in Erebor.”

“There are. Bilbo’s Uncle Hildifons and 10 cousins of his. Kili is the only dwarf dragon changer.” Glorfindel told him.

Thorin slowly slid his hand off of Bilbo and nodded. “I worry about leaving Fili here alone, but I guess that time will do that regardless. Would it be okay if we come and visit first? I would like to see what all is involved in it. And… I need to talk to Fili and Dis also.”

Balin nodded also. “I am definitely interested, Bilbo. However, I am quite old now. I don’t know that my old bones can take much in the way of aerial combat.”

Bilbo dropped his head and nudged Balin gently. “I am old for a hobbit and my Uncle even older. Dragons don’t get old, Balin. Think about that.”

Balin lifted surprised eyes to him and Bilbo slowly nodded his head. “It’s nice to get up and not have aching joints anymore. Well, unless Glorfindel devised some new torture he called training the day before.”

Dwalin guffawed and slapped Bilbo gently. “If only I had a coin for every time I heard the same complaint from the trainees! Same thing, no matter which race then!”

“It seems to be, Master Dwalin.” Glorfindel added a bit dryly.

“Thorin, I can change Fili whenever he’ll be free to swear fealty to Lord Elrond.”

Thorin heaved a sigh. “Actually, I’m thinking that we may just abdicate and let Dain rule Erebor. After the life we’ve had, none of us seem to be happy if we’re anything other than together. Fili is in misery without his brother around.”

Balin and Dwalin both jerked their attention to Thorin in stunned amazement. He simply shrugged. “I’m tired of following the ‘old ways of doing things’. Life doesn’t seem to fit so neatly into such a box. Just look at Master Baggins.”

“Hey! Gimli is of age too! We need to ask him!” Kili added. Thorin nodded. “We will. I’m sure that everyone except for Bombur and his wife will want to go. All of the struggle to regain Erebor and none of us fit in it anymore.”

“Oooh! Will I finally get to meet the Lady Dis? Is she really able to keep Fili and Kili under control? Oh! What about Gloin’s wife, Risa? I’ve never gotten to meet her.”

Balin patted Bilbo and scrubbed his hand over his eyes. “Lad, I think you’ll get to meet most everyone.”

It took two days before Kili and Bilbo received word back from Erebor. Thorin and Fili both had sent for Dain. They had the arrangements made to turn Erebor over to him, while everyone that wanted to go made their travel arrangements. There was actually very little they wanted to take. They were taking clothes and money for the most part. Everything else could be replaced.

 

Exactly one month from the day Kili contacted them, they returned to pick up the dwarrow and their belongings. This time, they were able to land directly in front of the Main Gates, where they had a crowd gathered. Bilbo, Kili and Hildifons were all waiting patiently for everyone to say their goodbyes. 

Dain made all of them promise to come back and visit, but honestly, Bilbo doubted that any of them would. The sight of Fili when he spotted his brother… Yeah, he doubted that any of his dwarrow would be coming back.

Tauriel and Narvi were standing proudly next to Kili and all of them were decked out in the beautiful new harnesses that the Elves had made. Fili had whooped and ran out to Kili, letting Tauriel get him settled and secure into Kili’s harness. Gimli came running also and was soon sitting behind Fili on Kili’s back. Soon, the entire group had their luggage strapped onto the dragons and everyone was split up and safely strapped onto dragon back. Once it was done, the Elves resettled themselves on their dragons and with the crowd cheering, they launched into the air, one after the other. Loaded down, Bilbo’s mood was cheerful as Kili’s joy was racing down the Bond he shared with him. He could feel Glorfindel and Elrond both sharing the connection and enjoying the young dwarf’s happiness.

It looks like things were going to be changing again. They winged their way back to the West, setting a hard pace.

 

Three months later, the dwarrow from Erebor were taking a break down by the lake. It was the same one that Kili had been trapped next to, all those months earlier. They had all found that building up wing muscles was a huge effort. Kili had told them that it was more than four months before he could handle the short flights with ease and over a year of steady flying before he could stay up more than an hour.

Right now though… Life was good. Kili was the only one not with them, as he had aerial combat class with Bilbo and Glorfindel and the rest of the hobbit dragons. 

“Well, I think it’s going to take me a while to get used to this.” Dis murmured from her spot next to him. 

“Aye. Not used to anyone worryin’ about whether or not I’m achin’, that’s for sure.” Dwalin grumbled from the other side of her. Every single one of them had their own harness and had picked out an archer. Or in Thorin’s case, Lord Celeborn had picked him. He actually found that he rather liked the Elf Lord though. Celeborn wasn’t nosy and knew in detail all of the dragon knowledge that the others had already accumulated. It was helpful, as learning to handle magic while also flying was challenging.

“Oh!” Fili raised his head and looked towards the southern pass. “Kili is telling me that their class is almost here. He said to watch as Bilbo and Glorfindel are demonstrating diving attacks, both how it’s done and how to fight them off.”

“Fight them off?” Dis asked as she raised her head to look also. “I thought that was what the archers were for?”

“Actually, as they have already discovered, when attacked by a wing of 8 or more Nazgul, archery can only account for about 2/3 of them with skillful flying. The others can get close enough for diving attacks, which could be fatal if not handled – either to the Elves riding or to the dragon.” Celeborn told them from his position atop Thorin.

“There they are!” Fili crowed as a wing of dragons swept into their clearing. Bilbo was flying straight and fast, about a hundred feet beneath the circling wing of dragons. All of them opened up their Bond with Bilbo to hear the conversation, Thorin feeling Celeborn piggyback the connection to listen also.

“Alright, Adalgrim! It’s your turn. Just line up straight overhead, fold your wings and dive. Right before you hit me, I’m going to roll over and meet you with my feet. We’ll try to flip the other, but no longer than 10 seconds before we let go. You’ll recover and regain your altitude. Got it?”

“Yeah! Prepare to go down, Bilbo!” Adalgrim crowed.

“Darian!” Glorfindel snapped and they felt the rather embarrassed “I’ve got it, sir!” from Adalgrim’s archer. The two of them argued privately for a few seconds before the Bond reopened.

“Here we come!” Adalgrim said, in a much more polite tone.

Adalgrim folded his wings and dove straight at the shining golden form that was Bilbo. It was rather heart stopping to see the speed the copper colored hobbit dragon achieved, but right before their astonished eyes, Bilbo suddenly dove and rolled over, mere seconds before they would have collided.

All of them could feel Adalgrim’s stunned surprise as he found himself grappling with Bilbo and promptly losing as Bilbo turned them over and launched himself free, while Adalgrim struggled to flip back over and settle into steady flight.

“Well… That didn’t go the way I thought it would.” Adalgrim finally said and the other hobbit dragons and Kili all roared in laughter.

“All that trash talking you did, and you didn’t last two turns!” Kili crowed at him. “Even I lasted longer than that.”

“Darian? How are you holding up? It’s quite disorienting to have to ride through that, isn’t it?” Glorfindel asked over the Bond. “Are you okay?”

“I am, sir. A bit queasy, but you’re right. I need to get used to it and we should get better at recovery with time.” Darian managed to sound nauseous even through the link.

“Well, regardless, we’re finished for today. Bilbo has already done this 26 times in a row. I’ll get the next lesson on the schedule, so everyone be sure to check the board for updates!” Glorfindel told all of them.

“YES, SIR!” They all said in unison.

Kili banked and descended heading down to them while the rest of the group turned around and headed back towards home. 

“Hey Bilbo?” Kili asked him through the Bond. “Are you going to come down for a visit?”

“Not today, Kili. Tonight is the Adoption ceremony for Aragorn and I need to get cleaned up for it.” Bilbo answered, long out of sight.

“Damn! I forgot about that! I guess I won’t stay here long then. I want to be there to congratulate him afterwards.” Kili said as he settled on the ground and walked over next to his brother.

“Hey Fee!”

“Hey Kee!” Fili answered, shifting slightly to make enough room for Kili to lie down next to him. Kili did so with a sigh. Tauriel and Narvi both patting his neck.

“You did great today, Kili.” Narvi told him. “In a few more months, we should be able to take it up to full attack speed. It’ll be amazing!”

“I know! I’m ready, but as usual Glorfindel is right. I need to develop muscle memory for that attack first, so that I do it automatically. I mean, as fast as Bilbo can fly, I’d have no chance if I had to stop and think about it.”

Tauriel and Narvi both unstrapped and jumped down, gathering with the other riders in a huddle as they pulled out their notebooks and started trading notes amongst one another. Lord Celeborn was also included in the huddle. He wasn’t shy at all about finding out everything he could.

“Wait… So, you’re telling me that those attacks weren’t at full speed?” Dwalin asked, a bit of disbelief in his voice.

“That’s right. We dwarrow tend to make heavier, more solid dragons. Once I learn how to fend off an attacker, it should be pretty hard to take me out of the sky, let me tell you. Bilbo now, he’s insanely, impossibly fast. For him, this was just poking along. He can use his speed and agility to toss everybody out there off of him or just outright avoid them!”

“…The hobbit can.” Thorin said, trying to wrap his mind around it. Kili laughed.

“Yep!” He said, popping the ‘p’ sound and making it quite cheerful.

“Well, I guess we’ll all be finding out firsthand then, won’t we? It’ll only be about another year, I would guess.” Balin chimed in. “It actually looks rather fun, to be honest with you.”

“Aye. Lot like wrestling.” Dwalin said in agreement.

“I had forgotten that Aragorn’s ceremony was tonight also. Will we be able to see him after it and offer congratulations to him? If it works, he’ll be out here with the Lady Arwen in just a few weeks.” Dis said as she shifted back to her feet and stretched her wings. 

“Aye, Mother. Bilbo said he’d escort me to the waiting area, so that Tauriel, Narvi and I could wait with the Lady Arwen. Did you want to come too?”

“I do. I guess I need to get my butt back in gear then and get back so that I can get cleaned up and get there in time.” Dis leaned her head over the group of Elves. “I hate to interrupt everyone, but I’d like to head back. I want to go to Aragorn’s ceremony tonight and I need to get cleaned up so that I can get there on time. Ruark? Whenever you’re free, I’d like to head back.”

Her archer nodded and smiled up at her. “Of course, Dis. I’d like to go also. Hopefully, Aragorn and Arwen will be joining us out here soon. I want to be able to congratulate them!”

All of the Elves nodded in agreement and Thorin and the others soon found themselves heading back home, as everyone wanted to go and congratulate Aragorn.

 

Late afternoon saw a flurry of activity in Tuckborough. One dragon after another landed and had to have the harness removed so that they could wait on the ceremony. The hobbits had drug out every chair and bench they could find, trying to get enough seating for all of them wanting to wait with the Lady Arwen.

Just as the sun was setting on the horizon, the hobbits involved in the ceremony went filing by, each of them dressed in a green cloak, with the hood pulled up. They vanished off into the forest, as the clearing they were going to use was hidden from casual viewing. It was part of the ceremony, that none other than his adoptive family could see him for the day before the ritual, to help strengthen the bonds of family.

Bilbo, Glorfindel, Lord Elrond and Lady Arwen were all sitting in a group of chairs near the front, while around them was a crowd of dragon Changers and their teams. A quick head count had shown that every single one of them had shown up for this one, even though Aragorn wouldn’t be officially Changed until later in the week, if the adoption ritual was successful.

As darkness fell and the fireflies lit up the night, the hobbits suddenly started murmuring and Bilbo opened up his Bonds to the others to let all of them feel the magic of the Lady Yavanna as it rose. Over the course of the next hour, the haze of magic grew heavy in the air and the Elves had all dropped their shields to absorb the extra free magic. It finally culminated in a huge burst of magic that actually lit up the night sky, before it finally faded out and the darkness returned.

Everyone sat in the darkness, talking quietly while they waited for the hobbits to return. It took another half hour before the same column of hobbits came back from the forest, carrying their lit lanterns. Arwen jumped to her feet, eyes anxiously searching out Aragorn.

Gerontius Took, the Head of the Took family, approached Arwen and Elrond. He bowed before them, before suddenly breaking out into a smile. “We have a new member of the family.”

Cheers broke out across the clearing and Arwen hugged her father tightly. “Where is Aragorn?” She asked Master Took. He smiled and nodded towards the path. 

“He’s coming. He’s never heard the Earth Song, so it’s a bit overwhelming for him. He should be here any minute though.” As though waiting for his words, Aragorn came striding out from the forest and when he saw Arwen, he broke into a run, sweeping her up and twirling her around.

“It worked!” The two of them were laughing and exchanged a brief kiss before they turned to accept the congratulations of everyone that had waited. Aragorn looked quite surprised to see all of them and Kili was the one who finally addressed his confusion.

“Bilbo’s magic will only work on Family, Aragorn. That makes all of us Family and thus, we’re here waiting.”

“Family looks out for one another.” Thorin Oakenshield told him gravely.

“We’re looking forward to the both of you joining us on our daily flights too.” Dis said as she smiled and hugged Arwen. “They’re right. We take Family quite seriously.”

Over the next hour and a half, Aragorn accepted the congratulations from not only the dragon Changers and their teams, but also all of the members of the Took family that were currently in Tuckborough. Glorfindel started arranging for the dragons to Change and carry their teams back home in an orderly fashion. Everyone left waiting helped clean up their waiting area, so that they didn’t leave a mess behind.

Bilbo was the last one left, as he’d been talking to his Grandfather about what exercises would be best to settle Aragorn’s magic and accustom him to its use. Aragorn was already a step ahead, as he already knew how to use and focus magic. He just had to learn to handle raw magic on his own.

When Glorfindel called him over, he Changed and they harnessed him up. It was a quick flight home. He’d start working with Aragorn in the morning. Yawning, Bilbo landed and waited patiently for all of them to dismount and get his harness off. Elrond was explaining in detail what he wanted Arwen to check for on Aragorn all night long. Bless her, but there was an entire list of things she’d be scanning for and documenting. It didn’t sound like either of them would be getting much sleep tonight.

That night, as the three of them finally were able to go to bed, Elrond wrapped his arms around Bilbo tightly and buried his face in his shoulder. Startled, Bilbo looked over at Glorfindel who just smiled and shrugged, slipping into bed behind him.

“Bilbo…” Elrond breathed out, his voice rough. “I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done. Tonight, you gave me back the chance to have my daughter and my foster son once more.” 

Bilbo wrapped his arms around Elrond’s shoulders as best he could, patting him on the back comfortingly. “None of that now. We’re Family. You’re worrying about what I’ve done for you, but instead, I worry about everything that all of you have done for me.”

Elrond raised his head, giving him a disbelieving look and Bilbo smiled, lips quirking. “It’s true. Even with dragon magic, I’m still a hobbit and we never seem to do well on our own. I’d probably have died within a couple of years from sheer loneliness. Instead, I have all the Family a hobbit could ask for, Elrond. I owe all of you and I can never repay you for what you’ve done for me.” Bilbo said quietly. “You two and all of the others mean more to me than I could ever say.”

Glorfindel groaned and wrapped his arms around Bilbo’s waist from behind, pulling him up tight against him, while Elrond brushed his hair off his face. Bilbo finally managed a bit of a laugh as wriggled a bit to get more comfortable. 

“Now… How in the world are we going to address all of the other Rangers that are going to want to become dragon Changers when they see that it worked for Aragorn? He’s really the only one I know well enough to consider Family…”

His two Elves groaned and buried their faces in his neck, making him laugh. “I guess we’ll consider that in the morning then!”


End file.
